


Episode 1-11 - "Necessary Risks"

by stgjr



Series: Undiscovered Frontier Season 1 - "Seeking the Past" [11]
Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003), Multi-Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Multiverse, Space Opera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-16 18:24:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10576950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stgjr/pseuds/stgjr
Summary: The Aurora and the Pegasus lead a bold mission back to the Colonies to rescue survivors; the Cylon infiltrators in the Refugee Fleet plan one last strike before they are discovered.





	1. Chapter 1

**Teaser**  
  
The _Starship Koenig_ twisted in space with her dorsal phaser blazing away at Cylon raiders on her tail. The ship completed its maneuver and turned slightly to face its main target: a Cylon Basestar, one of three in the immediate area. Missiles and railgun rounds from the ship lashed out at the smaller _Koenig_ , which maneuvered sharply with rolls and turns to avoid most of the hits. Blue energy shined against the hull from full hits and bright blasts from proximity nuclear initiations.  
  
"Shields holding at sixty percent," Magda reported from Operations.  
  
Zack nodded, keeping his focus on the fight. "Status of the fighters?"  
  
"No friendly casualties yet."  
  
"Good. Sherlily, prepare to lower dorsal shields." Zack reached down and punched his intercom. "This is Carrey. Are you ready, Commander Meridina?"  
  
" _We are, Commander_ ," Meridina answered.  
  
"You heard the lady, Ap." Zack pressed the comm button. "Captain Adama, we're ready."  
  
" _We read you,_ Koenig," Lee answered. " _All Vipers form on me._ "  
  
"Extend shields around our fighters," Zack ordered.  
  
With Lee's Vipers flying close escort, _Koenig_ moved in close to the Basestar. Around them other Vipers and the Mongoose fighters from the _Aurora_ were steadily eliminating the Cylon fighters.  
  
Apley's expert piloting kept most hits from striking them. Lee's pilots matched his maneuvers closely, keeping their vulnerable fighters within the extended shields. They gave suppressing fire that shot down several of the Cylon missiles before they could get close while _Koenig_ 's blazing phaser cannons took out more. A spread of solar torpedoes raced across the distance and smashed into one of the arms of the Cylon Basestar. Explosions rippled up and down the arm and its weapon emplacements went silent.  
  
"Drop shields! Commence beaming!"  
  
For several seconds, _Koenig_ was vulnerable to enemy fire as she sent boarding teams over to the Cylon ship components. Missile and rail gun fire converged on the ship and was fought back by the escorting fighters and _Koenig_ 's own weapons. Nevertheless the ship rocked violently as one nuke got through and initiated on its armored hull. Powerful rounds slammed into the housing of the port nacelle.  
  
Magda finally brought the shields back up. "Transport complete," she reported. "Shields are holding at forty-five percent. We have minor damage on all decks, partial armor loss on Deck 2 starboard section, and some damage to the port nacelle housing."  
  
Zack gritted his teeth. That was too close. "What about the engines?"  
  
"Warp drive inoperable."  
  
"Not surprising," he muttered. He hit the intercom button. "Bridge to Engineering. Karen, I need shield power back."  
  
" _I'm on it!_ "  
  
  
  
  
"Shields still holding at ninety percent," Jarod said on the _Aurora_ bridge.  
  
"And _Pegasus_?"  
  
"Their shields are at eighty percent."  
  
On the viewscreen phaser fire from the _Aurora_ sliced along the arm of one of the Cylon Basestars. Weapons fire receded from the enemy ship. "Over seventy percent of Basestar Bravo's weapons are now offline," Angel said.  
  
"Excellent. Prepare to lower shields." Robert hit his intercom. "Commander Kane, we're about to send you over."  
  
" _We're ready, bridge_."  
  
The _Aurora_ traded shots with the other Basestar, which was focusing on them almost exclusively now, freeing _Pegasus_ to use the transporters rigged into their ship to send Marine teams to do the same job. At the right time Jarod dropped the shields and the _Aurora_ beamed the strike team over.  
  
"Let's get these ships disarmed and disabled," Robert said. "We've got a schedule to keep."  
  
  
  
  


**Undiscovered Frontier  
_"Necessary Risks"_**

  
  
  
_Ship's Log: 9 June 2641; ASV Aurora. Captain Robert Dale recording. We have successfully completed our attack on the Cylon Basestars shadowing the Colonial Fleet. Although we took a few casualties in the battle, we gained our primary objective by salvaging enough parts out of the Cylon ships' drives to build a jump drive for the use of the_ Aurora _. Soon we will know for sure on whether we can bring the_ Aurora _with the raid on the Colonial Homeworlds._  
  
Robert sipped at the morning coffee that was waking him up before looking back at his panel screen, where Admiral Maran was looking at him. "The engineering teams are working with their Colonial counterparts to put the pieces together for one intact jump drive. The trick is going to be the course calculations more than anything. Our Darglan computers are powerful enough to lengthen the jump range beyond the Cylon standard. Jarod and Cat are crunching the numbers now."  
  
" _I see._ " Maran nodded. " _President Morgan has okayed the operation._ "  
  
"That's good to know. Even if we save just a few thousand.... it should really improve morale for the Fleet to get survivors from their homeworlds." Robert set his coffee down. "President Roslin has asked me about the relief convoy."  
  
" _Princess Syrina cleared it with the Council of State yesterday. First Minister Henzi is going to require some of what President Morgan called 'horse-trading'._ " Maran smiled with contemplation at the intricacies of the politics of the Dorei Federation and its 185 nations. " _But we should have a convoy ready to go out by the end of the month._ "  
  
"It's going to take them the better part of a month just to get here," Robert mused. "Can we really stay out this far until late July?"  
  
" _Probably not. Honestly, Captain, the President is already planning on ordering you to get back here by the start of next month._ " Maran's expression hardened. " _Admiral Lithgon has reported increased Reich activity on their end of the Krellan Nebula. They're using the nebula's sensor shadow to obscure some of their ship movements._ "  
  
"What about probes? Cloaked ships?" Robert frowned. "You could call in the _Weaver_ or the _Rodriguez_."  
  
" _We're not willing to poke at the Nazis again. Not after what happened with your ship. We're still trying to get them to talk but all we've gotten is silence._ " Maran shook his head. " _It doesn't look good, Robert. The more this situation lasts, the more I'm convinced that we're going to have a war._ "  
  
Robert winced. "We'll try to get this operation wrapped up quickly."  
  
" _Good._ " Maran held up a PADD. " _Now, about your other matter. Commander Carrey's transfer request. I have a few questions from you on this situation..._ "  
  
  
  
  
Robert, Julia, and Zack were waiting in the shuttle bay for the arrival of the shuttle from _Galactica_. Behind them Commander Kane and an honor guard of Marines were standing with rifles at parade rest. A newly-replicated copy of the Colonial flag - or rather the Colonial bird-insignia seal on a flag - was held up by one of Kane's honor guard while another held the Alliance flag.  
  
"Seems rather silly to go through all of this for a strategy conference," Zack whispered to the others.  
  
"Orders are orders. Extend full courtesies," Julia replied. "That means we follow protocol on visiting government dignitaries."  
  
"Right." Zack sighed. He briefly fidgeted with the golden tassels hanging from the epaulets of his dress uniform jacket. "So we're wearing dress uniforms for a standard meeting."  
  
"Yes. Now _shush_."  
  
Julia hushed him for good reason, as the door on the shuttle opened. Admiral Adama stepped out with his son Lee, Captain Kara Thrace, and Colonel Fisk behind him. Tom Zarek and Dr. Baltar emerged next.  
  
They felt some surprise at seeing President Roslin up and about as well. Or at least she was for stepping down. Her aide Billy Keikaya came up behind her with a wheelchair that she settled into. After she did so she looked around at the shuttle bay.  
  
"Permission to come aboard, Captain?", Roslin asked.  
  
"Granted. President Roslin, it is my honor and pleasure to welcome you aboard the _Aurora_ ," Robert said to the woman who just a week before had caused two of his friends to get hurt and had nearly started a shooting war between them. It made him grateful that he left Angel on bridge watch. She didn't forgive so easily.  
  
"Thank you, Captain Dale." She nodded and smiled thinly at the assemblage. She was already looking healthier after a week of treatment by Leo and Doctor Cottle. The cancer that had nearly killed her was in complete remission and anti-cancer treatments were underway to kill it permanently. "I admit I'm still rather weak from my recovery. As much as I would like a tour of your ship, I think we should get down to business."  
  
"Commander Jarod and Lieutenant Delgado are waiting for us," Robert answered.  
  
  
  
  
The command crew of the _Aurora_ and _Koenig_ were gathered with Roslin and the Colonial contingent in Briefing Room 2. A set of curved tables were arranged in a circle around each other with a holographic projector in the middle. The two groups sat in their listed spots while Jarod went to the holoprojector. "Madame President, Admiral Adama, Captain Dale." Jarod nodded at them. "We've been going over the data from the long range probes that came into proximity of the Helios systems." He tapped a key and brought up a holographic space map. Icons lit up on both sides. "We're here." He indicated one icon with the Alliance torch insignia and the Colonial seal side-by-side. On the other end was a larger Colonial seal. Around it small dots glimmered in the holographic projection, with a few more visible between the two icons. Small red markers popped up at a few points along the way. "Going by the records from the _Galactica_ and what we can piece together from the destroyed Cylon force, the Cylon fleet is currently located in these areas."  
  
"A search pattern," Adama said, noticing the layout of the purported Cylon fleets. "They're out looking for us."  
  
Jarod looked to Caterina. She swallowed and nodded. "Space is too big. And what we've seen of their sensors means they don't have the means to scan long-range for the Fleet."  
  
"They've probably relied upon Cylon infiltrators to keep them informed of our movements."  
  
"That's our best guess." Jarod nodded. "And since we can find them now, their ability to pass information on is limited."  
  
"It's going to take a while to use those hand scanners on everyone in the Fleet," Adama remarked. "Have you made any headway on using ship sensors to locate Cylons?"  
  
"No sir," Cat said simply. She licked her lip. It was very apparent that Cat was speaking carefully and deliberately. "The sensors for detecting life don't let us scan for their insulation. At least, they don't yet."  
  
"How long would it take for you to make that work, Lieutenant Delgado?", Roslin asked.  
  
Roslin's voice was, if not friendly, at least gentle in tone. She clearly recognized Caterina and Adama noticed the slight change in her expression, the guilt at knowing what had been done to the brilliant young Alliance science officer and how it was due to her orders.  
  
Nevertheless Caterina, who had so far managed to control her shyness, clearly started to lose her control. "W-well, Ma-Madame President," Caterina stammered. "It's a m-matter of...."  
  
"It's an issue of resolution, Madame President," Jarod finished for Cat, looking at her with understanding and concern. "The sensor we developed for Cylon detection relies on ultra-fine resolutions to detect the tell-tale signs of a Cylon in biological form. Ship-based sensors aren't made for that kind of resolution at that scale, just as how our ship-mounted sensors didn't detect your cancer."  
  
Roslin nodded. "I see. Can these technical limitations be overcome?"  
  
"We would have to build an entirely new sensor system," Jarod answered. "That takes time."  
  
"So that solution is out, then," Zarek sighed. "We're stuck with the hand scanners. And any Cylons left will go out of their way to avoid them."  
  
"Maybe we can install versions of the scanners at chokepoints on every ship," Meridina suggested.  
  
Jarod nodded. "That we can do."  
  
"Then it's something the Fleet will implement with your assistance, Captain Dale," Roslin said. "However, I would like to return to the issue of this operational plan that Captain Thrace and Commander Carrey have been proposing."  
  
There were nods. Zack and Kara stood up and walked over to join Jarod. "Lieutenant Delgado and I have been analyzing the drives and their physical limits. Since the real limitation is how accurately computers can control the jump effect to certain distances, our ability to apply the processing power of the _Aurora_ 's computer cores allows us to plot jumps even further than the Cylons."  
  
"How much further?", Adama asked.  
  
"Around fifty percent," Caterina answered, having found her voice. And very deliberately keeping her eyes off Roslin. "Maybe seventy-five percent with our most optimistic projections."  
  
Lee looked at his father. "We could jump back to the Colonies in about six jumps that way."  
  
"As few as four if our best estimates prove true," Caterina confirmed.  
  
"What if we have a jump miscalculation?", Fisk asked.  
  
"We use subspace transmissions," Jarod answered. "And we calculate a rendezvous point."  
  
Adama nodded. "And if things go south we can always abort and form back at the Fleet."  
  
"Just how much force are we taking for this?", Zarek asked. "Are we going to leave the Fleet undefended?"  
  
"No." Adama shook his head. " _Galactica_ will remain behind to cover the Fleet. I'll transfer my flag to _Pegasus_ for the operation."  
  
"And who's going to be in charge?", Baltar asked.  
  
Robert looked at Adama and nodded. "As far as we're concerned, you're an allied force, and the military chain of command is clear. For this operation I consider myself under Admiral Adama's command."  
  
"Thank you, Captain." Adama nodded to the officers in the center area. "Captain Thrace, Commander Carrey, now that we know we can do this, can you tell us what we're doing?"  
  
Kara looked at Zack, who nodded and hit a key on the holo display. A series of points linked the Fleet to the Colonies. "It's a smash and grab," Kara said.  
  
Zack hit another key to show an icon representing the attack force jumping across the points. "We jump in, scan for life signs, and then beam as many people as we can off each of the Colonies before the Cylons can react."  
  
"Given the speed of their communications and jump drives, they'll react pretty quickly," Julia pointed out. "They'll swarm us."  
  
"That's why we split up," Zack continued. " _Pegasus_ and _Koenig_ will cover one group and _Aurora_ the other. And if the Cylons react in force, the _Aurora_ will move to engage. We've already seen that the Cylon Basestars don't have the firepower to hurt this ship."  
  
"You can't jump frequently, though," Adama pointed out. "Once the _Aurora_ is committed to one area, she's stuck there until the drives can spool back up."  
  
"Yeah, I know." Zack looked at Jarod. "How long would it take for warp to be restored?"  
  
"Going by what Scotty's been saying?" Jarod shook his head. "Hours. Unless we rework the drives in a yard, the reconfiguration is manual. Even with every member of engineering and operations on hand, we're looking at two hours for a switchover. An hour if Scotty pulls a miracle."  
  
"Knowing Mister Scott, he may just do that," Robert said. "But I don't like the thought of having to wait that long. Unless we absolutely have to, we'll stick to using the jump drive exclusively for this operation. Which means we need... how long?"  
  
"If you keep the drives spooled up, you can do it every ten minutes or so," Lee said. "But that will wear the drive out."  
  
"And we're already cobbling it together from the remains of three different Cylon capital drives." Jarod nodded. "So we can only keep the drive spooled up for so long. I'd suggest that before our final jump we take a few hours of downtime to run drive checks on all ships."  
  
"I have a question," Baltar said. He shifted forward in his seat. "Commander, Captain, have you given any thought to how many people we can reasonably bring back? If we run out of room from the first Colonies we go to, we could end up leaving people from the other Colonies behind. This could be a political nightmare for the Fleet if some Colonies get more people rescued than others."  
  
"A good point, Doctor," Zack conceded. "That's why we want to get volunteers from the Fleet."  
  
"Excuse me?", Roslin asked.  
  
"We'll ask some of the larger passenger-carrying ships to join our rescue fleet," Kara clarified. "The more volunteers we get, the more space we have for people we get off the Colonies."  
  
"And we're just supposed to risk all of those civilians?", Balter asked pointedly.  
  
Zack shook his head. "Honestly I doubt we'll get that many ships. And we can't accept any that provide a vital service to the Fleet. What few we do get, well... we temporarily evacuate the people living on those ships to the ships remaining behind. _Cloud Nine_ alone has all the space we need. Between that and _Galactica_ 's unused hanger, that's space for thousands at least."  
  
"When it comes to bringing people back from the Colonies, the _Aurora_ has space for thousands of refugees," Julia added. "Captain Farmer estimated we could bring aboard twelve and a half thousand without overloading the ship. For a short time we could probably double that."  
  
"That alone would be about half of our population," Roslin noted. "Finding all of those people places to stay is going to be... difficult."  
  
"We could always bring some back with us," Robert noted. "There are refugee stations and camps that could accept them until we find you a planet to settle."  
  
Roslin nodded. "I see."  
  
"So we're not landing on any of the Colonies?", Zarek asked. "We're just using the matter transporters? Are we putting them on each individual ship?"  
  
"We can rig some transporters on each ship that volunteers, yes," Robert said. "And assign transporter control officers to operate them. It might slow down our operations, but transporter operations training is universal throughout our engineering and ship operations departments and preferred in several other fields. Even trainee officers could handle some of the load, so long as we're not making them get too fancy."  
  
"If we do have to land, I suggest we have Marines on standby," Commander Kane said. "Just in case of the unexpected."  
  
"Agreed," Adama said. "We'll coordinate with you on that. Are there any more questions?"  
  
There were none for the moment. "Then President Roslin and I will deliberate on whether to launch this operation or not," Adama said. "Expect our answer by tomorrow. You're all dismissed."  
  
  
  
  
Once everyone was out of the room, Caterina leaned against one of the tables and let out a nervous breath. "Everything okay?" She turned her head and saw Jarod was standing by the door.  
  
Caterina shook her head. "Not really," she admitted. "I thought I was doing well. But..." She plopped into one of the chairs. "She's the reason I got beaten. I can't get that out of my head. Why did they have to hurt me?" Tears were forming in her eyes. "I w-was just th-there to help t-them..."  
  
Jarod took a seat opposite from Caterina's. "I know."  
  
"A-and they sh-shot Tom..." Caterina sniffled and wiped at her right eye. "I'm sorry, I, I just..." When he didn't say anything she continued. "Look at m-me. I'm b-being a big ba-baby."  
  
"You went through something horrible. It takes time to come to grips with that."  
  
"Be-being a sh-shrink again?", Cat asked him. "Mister Pre-Pretender?"  
  
"Don't need to go into that to know what's hurting you," Jarod answered. "You just have to understand that it's okay to be upset about it. You're not being a big baby, Cat, you're just a very sensitive young lady."  
  
"Maybe too sensitive..." Cat had managed to get her sniffling under control by this point. "What am I going to do? I keep falling to pieces. I can't be like this and do this work. Maybe I should just leave..."  
  
"You're stronger than you think, Cat." He patted her on the back. "Listen, why don't you take the rest of the day? Lieutenant Lumwe needs a bridge watch for training anyway."  
  
Cat nodded. "He can have it. But I need to get back to work."  
  
"We've done all the preliminary calculations for the planned jumps," Jarod pointed out. "We really don't need to do any more until we get final confirmation of when we're launching."  
  
"Not this," Cat answered. "It's the data from that Darglan database we recovered in S4W8. We got a lot of raw astrographical data as well as a few new universal coordinates to try out. I'm hoping some of the data will lead us to their Facility in S4W8." She lowered her eyes. "It would at least be something after that mission went so badly."  
  
Jarod sighed and nodded. "Yeah, you're right about that. Want any help?"  
  
"You're going to have your hands full helping Scotty and Tom get that jump drive installed," Caterina pointed out. "I'll be fine." She wiped away the last tear in her eye. "I promise."  
  
Jarod nodded and gave her a pat on the arm. Cat stood and walked out of the conference room.  
  
  
  
  
With the bridge watch over and his official day wrapping up, Robert returned to his quarters and went over the final bits of paperwork so helpfully sent down to him by Julia. He went from scowling to amusement before finishing.  
  
He had just filed the last report when the door opened. Angel walked in, still in uniform. Robert rose from his chair and met her just past the door. It was closed by the time they embraced and their lips met in a quick kiss. "Hey. Nice day?"  
  
"Yeah," she said, smiling slightly. "Actually, I was pretty mad at things today, but shooting up Cylon Basestars in the tactical simulations let me vent."  
  
"Ah, good." Robert gestured to the table. "I figured we'd decide on dinner when you got here and then..."  
  
"...actually, I'm just coming by to pick up a couple of things," Angel said. "Cat's still having trouble sleeping so I'm going to spend a few nights with her."  
  
Robert blinked and nodded. "Oh. Alright." He nodded. "Yeah, if she needs you that's the best thing to do."  
  
"And yet you sound disappointed," Angel noted.  
  
He sighed in reply. "Yeah, I guess I am. I was looking forward to spending the evening with you just in case we're running off to the Colonies tomorrow."  
  
"Ah." Angel nodded. "Well, I can't blame you. _Carpe diem_ was pretty much my argument for us getting back together, after all." She settled into the chair for the moment. "But Cat's still.... Rob, you didn't _see_ her...."  
  
"I saw the pictures," he answered, shuddering.  
  
"Even that wasn't enough," Angel said. "They beat her so badly, I mean, Leo was considering surgery to fix her face if he couldn't repair the damage." She glanced out the windows. "And here we are, being buddy-buddy with them again."  
  
Robert could hear the edge in her voice. "Angel, some of them did that. But that doesn't mean they're all guilty. I mean... from what Lucy says, it was Captain Thrace that stopped the beating. And she's the one pushing this mission."  
  
"Yeah." Angel clenched a fist. "Yeah, I know. But it doesn't change the fact that they hurt her, Rob, and I wasn't there to stop them. I'm supposed to protect Cat. For God's sake, she's all I have left!"  
  
A stab of irritation went through Robert. _What about us? Don't you have me too?_ But he didn't give voice to it. Not just because he knew it would be wrong to say it, but because... did she really have him in the same way her sister was hers? As in family? The two of them were a couple, but he couldn't lie to himself on how close they were, or rather, how not close they were. Since they'd gotten back together Robert had been waiting for the day the other shoe dropped. "I know. Angel, I know how much your little sister means to you, and how much she looks to you. Give her as much time as she needs. I'm just asking you not to take things out on the Colonials."  
  
Angel looked beyond him. Robert watched her wrestle with her emotions. "Yeah, you're right," she conceded. She stood up and went to the nightstand where her things were kept in a drawer. She pulled out the small carrying bag she'd brought them in and started putting them back. "I need to get going to make sure Cat gets a good supper before she goes to bed tonight. You'll be all right?"  
  
"I'll be fine," Robert assured her.  
  
"That's good to hear." She finished zipping the bag up and walked beside him. Angel leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Love you."  
  
"Love you too," Robert called back to her as she went to the door. He said nothing more as she left.  
  
  
  
  
Adama had a restless night. He didn't get many restful ones these days, of course, but this one stood out. The questions weighing on his mind demanded he consider every angle. Every potential issue.  
  
On the one hand, he owed it to the Fleet to protect them. If this adventure went south, the Fleet would lose _Pegasus_. _Galactica_ alone could only do so much against Cylon forces and being overwhelmed was a distinct, and frightening, possibility.  
  
On the other hand… ever since Starbuck had returned from Caprica with news of survivors, Adama had felt gnawing frustration that he could do nothing to come to their rescue. And they deserved that. Leaving someone behind… it struck at the very core of his feelings, no matter how often he had felt it necessary.  
  
But it wasn't necessary here. Now he had a powerful asset that they could use to rescue thousands of Colonial citizens on the Colonies and give the Cylons a real bloody nose too.  
  
How could he pass that up?  
  
When morning came he went to the VIP cabin that Roslin was staying in while finishing her treatments with Cottle. She was looking a bit healthier today. But Adama could see the lines on her face from a night of worrying. "Did you have any better sleep than I did, Bill?", she asked him.  
  
"Not likely," he admitted.  
  
"It's a big decision. Risk the security of the fleet to maybe save a few thousand survivors." Roslin remained silent for several moments. "If you had asked me to authorize this two weeks ago, I would have said 'no' right out. Even with the _Aurora_ available."  
  
"I'll stand by your decision," Adama assured her. "Whichever way you go."  
  
"I know." She nodded. "The damnedest thing is… my head is telling me I should say no. That we should be satisfied with what we've managed to walk away with."  
  
"I know the feeling."  
  
"...but I can't get that ship out of my head, Bill. Every time I think about the _Aurora_ , I start to feel hope like I haven't felt in… a very long time." Roslin drew in a sigh. "And I can't just listen to my head on this one."  
  
Adama waited expectantly for what she was to say next.  
  
"You've got my permission, Bill," Roslin said. "Find as many of our people as you can and bring them back. May the Gods be with you."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aurora and the Pegasus lead a bold mission back to the Colonies to rescue survivors; the Cylon infiltrators in the Refugee Fleet plan one last strike before they are discovered.

Once word came down from Roslin the _Aurora_ crew got to work. Every engineer and operations officer with the necessary aptitude began to take the assembled engine and, with input from the engineering officers sent by _Galactica_ and _Pegasus_ (in a bemusing reversal of the ships' prior roles), prepare them for operation. The warp drive was carefully disconnected from the ship's power systems in order to power the stolen Cylon jump engine. Gardner from _Pegasus_ oversaw the process of replicating whatever parts they had not been able to salvage from the Cylon ships.  
  
Robert was waiting in his ready room going over the usual reports and paperwork demanded of him when Julia entered. "They're almost ready," she said. "Scotty wants to do a test jump in two hours."  
  
"Right. He says it will work?"  
  
"If it doesn't, the safeties will kick in. And Jarod's confident that there are no reasons it wouldn't work."  
  
That prompted a nod. "Well, if he is…"  
  
Julia took a seat and crossed her arms. "Having second thoughts?"  
  
For a moment he said nothing. But as he collected his thoughts, Robert finally nodded. "Yeah, a little," he admitted. "We're going to be plunging into the heart of Cylon-held territory using a drive cobbled together from battle salvage and some guesswork. We have no idea on the actual strength off the Cylon forces in the Colonies. And even if we prevail, we won't be able to get everyone."  
  
"Unless there aren't many left to get," Julia noted. "But I get your point."  
  
"And there's no telling what effect it would have on the Fleet if we have a disproportionate number of people from some Colonies over others. We could be introducing major political instability in their system.."  
  
Julia nodded at that. She had made similar calculations. "Those are all good points. But I think the potential benefits make it worth the risk. The Fleet will get a morale boost from this. And it will give us a better look at Cylon capabilities."  
  
"And it might convince the Cylons to be less intrusive on our frontier," Robert noted. "It could buy us time. Especially with the Nazi situation."  
  
Despite everything, Julia could tell he was distracted by something. And it wasn't too hard to guess. "Everything okay with Angel?"  
  
"Why wouldn't it be?"  
  
"Because you seem distracted," Julia answered.  
  
"Nothing much to say. Things are going steady. She's not staying with me at the moment, Caterina is still recovering so Angel wanted to stay with her a few nights."  
  
"Ah." Julia had no immediate reaction to that. She had some thoughts on the matter, of course, but nothing to share. Especially not with Robert. "And yet you seem a little put off."  
  
"I suppose," he admitted. "But it's not important. Especially not when you consider what we're about to get up too."  
  
"Right." Julia stood from her chair. "Well, I need to go have a talk with Jarod about how many of his ops people will need to be assigned to the Colonial ships that are volunteering to join us. Meridina and Kane will be assigning personnel to assist and scan for Cylons."  
  
"It makes me wish we had brought more personnel," Robert sighed. "Or had more time to train Adama's people."  
  
"We don't always have the luxury of time," Julia noted. "So, let's make the best of it."  
  
That prompted a thought from Robert. On what he had discussed with Maran. "As for making the best of things," he began, "I'd like to get your opinions on something I'm discussing with Maran. It's about Zack's request."  
  
Julia's face made it clear how she felt about Zack's imminent departure. "Alright, I'm listening."  
  
  
  
  
Meridina waited patiently for her chance to see Robert while final preparations for departure were made. Security teams had to be assembled, arms distributed, assignments made… it was the the part of this position that she had heard the others call the "paperwork tyranny". Monotonous, surely, if necessary to keep an organization going.  
  
Once this process was complete Meridina was able to meet with Robert. in his office. He nodded to her and asked, "Meridina, I guess everything is ready on your end?"  
  
"It is," she said. "But I have a request to make."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I would like to stay with the Refugee Fleet."  
  
Robert stared at her for a moment. He would be wondering about her motives, obviously. And wondering why she would stay when they could use her help. "May I ask why?"  
  
"It is… a feeling," she said.  
  
"Ah. One of those feelings then?" Robert sighed. "Meridina, this is going to be hard for me to justify…."  
  
"Not necessarily," she said. "President Roslin and her people could always use assistance in securing the many refugees evacuated to _Cloud Nine_ for this rescue mission. Since my subordinates and Commander Kane have matters well in hand for the rescue, it should not be out of the question that I stay and help President Roslin maintain order."  
  
Robert considered that line of thought. "I'll grant you that it is justifiable there, yeah." He sat forward in his chair. "You think the Cylons still in the Fleet are going to try something?"  
  
"It is not a surprising thought, no," she said. "They know our scanner works They know we will soon be able to detect them across the Fleet. Instead of waiting for the inevitable they may attempt an attack."  
  
"One you can possibly sense coming." Robert contemplated that. He had his own gut feelings on the matter, feelings that said she was right. "Okay. I'll approve it. But I can't leave Lucy with you, she'll be needed here to help with operating the jump drive and the evacuation."  
  
Meridina nodded. "Her training has progressed enough that I believe she can make it on her own for these next few days," Meridina agreed. "I will inform her of what her training requires while alone and then prepare to embark for _Cloud Nine_."  
  
Robert nodded. "I'll inform Adama and Roslin."  
  
  
  
  
The preparations for the raid had created organized chaos in the fleet. Shuttle after shuttle disgorged residents of several of the Refugee Fleet ships, all tasked to join the _Pegasus_ and _Aurora_ on their expedition. Personnel from _Cloud Nine_ struggled to accommodate the inflow of ship after ship of people displaced, at least temporarily, from their "homes".  
  
 _Galactica_ 's functioning landing pod was undergoing the same process, with shuttles bringing in loads of refugees to be settled in the starboard module for the time being. Admiral Adama watched this press of bodies continue working their way into the ship and past the Cylon scanners being waved by two technician petty officers. Tigh and Lee stood to either side of him. "Don't you think we should be taking _Galactica_ instead?", Tigh asked. "And leave the _Pegasus_ with the fleet?"  
  
"I want to bring as much force to bear as I can," answered Adama. "Just in case."  
  
"Do you think the Cylons will put up a fight with our new friends around?", Tigh asked.  
  
"They'll have to. Just letting us fly in without resistance will make them look vulnerable to the Alliance."  
  
Lee almost expressed his wish to go with them. Adama nodded at him, he recognized what the look meant. He put a hand on his son's shoulder. "If things go bad, keeping the fleet and President Roslin going will be on you."  
  
"I understand," Lee answered. "We'll follow the course that the _Aurora_ plotted for us and get the Fleet to the safety of their Alliance." Lee reached forward and hugged Adama. "But I'd like it if you were the one leading us there."  
  
Adama nodded. He would have said more but a look at Kara stepping out of a shuttle reminded him they were almost out of time. He gave Lee another pat on the back and excused himself from the two.  
  
"Colonel Fisk and the _Pegasus_ are ready for you, Admiral," she said when he stepped up. "And despite everything, we've got three Alliance technical officers setting up their transporters."  
  
"Good. I don't want any problems." Adama shook his head. "After seeing what they did to Lieutenant Delgado, I'm concerned with the discipline of Cain's people."  
  
"The idea of returning to the Colonies to pick up our people has them excited." Kara climbed into the shuttle beside Adama and took the pilot seat while Adama took to the co-pilot seat. "I don't think they'll give us any problems."  
  
Adama answered with a wordless nod. Their shuttle launched from _Galactica_ just behind an empty one going to ferry in another load of evacuees. The shuttle peeled away in a different direction, leaving Adama the sight of the _Aurora_ in her place along _Galactica_. She looked different, alien, compared to the aesthetic designs of the Colonial ships. As they moved along he was able to watch _Koenig_ make a slow and careful approach to the opened doors of her launch bay. "Hell of a thing," he mused.  
  
"Yeah," Kara agreed. "I always figured this would be a raid on Caprica with a group of Raptors to get a few dozen people. Now we're going back with enough ships to carry out thousands."  
  
"The Cylons won't make it easy."  
  
"Let them try," Kara said. "You saw what the _Aurora_ did to those Basestars."  
  
"I did." But what Adama didn't feel he needed to mention was that the Cylons would learn from that. When they challenged this rescue mission, they would have a plan drawn up to account for the power of the _Aurora_.  
  
  
  
  
Aboard _Cloud Nine_ , a group of people - lost among the crowds of thousands being set up to live on the ship for the short-term - remained hunkered together in a spare room.  
  
Among them stood Cavil, still in priest garb.  
  
"The scanners are being spread out among the fleet," one of his charges said. "It won't be safe for us much longer."  
  
Cavil nodded. "Regrettably, our effort to drive a wedge between the Human groups has failed."  
  
"Well, we need to do something," another of his followers protested. "They're raiding the Colonies now to free more of their people. The Plan is in jeopardy…"  
  
"The Plan will be completed," Cavil insisted. "As promised."  
  
Another voice spoke up. This from someone wearing the garb of a technician assigned to _Galactica_. "They have stolen our technology for the new ship to make the jumps. This could be an opportunity."  
  
"It is quite the opportunity, yes…" Cavil nodded and grinned slightly. "And it will be used. As for the rest of us, we must prepare. Our time is short and there is much to be done…"  
  
  
  
  
There was quiet tension on the _Aurora_ bridge when the time for the test came. Everyone was at their assigned stations. "All systems are green," Barnes said from Engineering. "Everything checks out."  
  
"Do we have a destination plotted for our test jump?"  
  
"We're going to make a baby hop first," Jarod said. "Just ten light years."  
  
"Right." Robert nodded. "Whenever you're ready, Jarod, Nick."  
  
The two went to work. "Navigational data loading now. Jump plotting."  
  
"Transferring power to jump drives."  
  
"Course plotted. Feeding to jump controls now."  
  
After several seconds Jarod looked back. "Ready when you are."  
  
Robert wasn't the only one to take in a forced breath. "Here we go," he murmured to himself. And he gave a nod. "Jump."  
  
At the press of a button, power from the _Aurora_ 's banks of naqia reactors surged into the giant jump engines assembled in the ship's spare machinery spaces. Energy surged until the drive generated the jump field. In a flash of white light _Aurora_ disappeared from her place among the Refugee Fleet.  
  
On the bridge everyone let out a breath. "So." Robert nodded. "Nothing went wrong."  
  
Jarod chuckled. "Just as I said."  
  
"That was so cool," Caterina added enthusiastically. "That subspace shift, the way it works… I'm going to spend hours going over it! I've got papers to write!"  
  
" _Engineering tae Bridge. All systems intact. Th' drive is powered down, spooling up can commence in twenty-five minutes._ "  
  
"Thank you, Mister Scott," Robert replied. "Jarod, please signal _Pegasus_ with our coordinates."  
  
"Signalling now."  
  
After another forty seconds, several flashes of light filled the holo-viewscreen. _Pegasus_ and over a dozen ships of the Refugee Fleet appeared. Jarod put an incoming hail on speakers. " _Congratulations on your first jump, Captain Dale,_ " Admiral Adama said.  
  
"Thank you, Admiral," he answered. "Next time we'll try for a long-distance jump, so long as Mister Jarod and Mister Scott concur."  
  
"It should be no different," Jarod said.  
  
" _Aye, sir. Th' principles were th' important part, and we've just confirmed they work. Th' only problems a long range jump cud prove is if th' calculations are off._ "  
  
"I'm starting them now," Caterina said. "They should be done by the time we jump again."  
  
"Well, good to see everything is getting off to a good start then," Julia mused.  
  
Robert nodded. "Now we just have to keep it that way."  
  
  
  
  
The refugees seemed in fairly good spirits on _Cloud Nine_ , spreading their blankets and mattresses out on the well-kept lawns and over the pavilions of the luxury liner starship as if it were some grand camping experience. Meridina thought of how this might have actually become an improvement for them. They Had spent months living in the cramped quarters on all sorts of starships, after all.  
  
But more to the point, she could sense a change growing in the Fleet's populace. When they had arrived she had felt uncertainty, fear, grief, and anger that sometimes went over the line to hate. The Refugees had been understandably traumatized by their sufferings and it made Meridina's heart ache to consider that suffering. But now there was a gentle thrum of hope and of happiness. The replicator food stores that Captain Dale had arranged for the ships of the Fleet ensured everyone received a full meal, at least. After the regrettable confrontation that Meridina had caused by her actions, it seemed that the _Aurora_ crew had resumed acts of personal charity, sharing little items and luxuries with the suffering Colonials. _This is how a people heal. This is how those falling into Darkness are brought back toward the Light._  
  
"You look content, Commander Meridina."  
  
Meridina turned and faced President Roslin. She was still in a wheelchair from her weakness, but whatever physical issues she had, her spirit seemed to be recovering. This woman, who just a week ago had done the unthinkable, and who had then ordered Meridina's execution without trial, now seemed to appraise her with friendliness, and warmth. Perhaps dashed with guilt, too, given the emotions Meridina felt emanating from the Colonials' political leader.  
  
"You don't wear the same uniform as the others?", Roslin asked.  
  
Meridina had, for various reasons, opted not to wear the basic Stellar Navy uniform she typically did in normal duty situations. She was instead clad in the robes and armor of a Gersallian _swevyras'e_ , or "Life Force Knight" as Lucy insisted on terming it. "This is my uniform, Madame President," Meridina replied.  
  
Roslin nodded. Meridina was aware she looked out of place with her blue robes over dark purple body armor, with the striped rank insignia of a Lt. Commander on her collar. ""I have heard that your people are considered 'Knights'."  
  
"We are," Meridina said. "Sworn to the Code of Swenya, which has guided us for three thousand years."  
  
Roslin nodded. "Three thousand years…. that would mean your people have been doing this since Kobol was our home."  
  
"It would appear so," Meridina answered. "Although much has changed in those years."  
  
"How is it that your people are not more advanced than this, then? From what I have heard, there are civilizations in this Multiverse that are just as advanced as you but have not had such a long life."  
  
"All civilizations, cultures, and species progress at their own paces, Madame President. We Gersallians tend to believe in contemplation and acceptance of what we have. I have been told this differs us from the Humans we so closely resemble."  
  
"Maybe," Roslin agreed. "  
  
"There are other races besides mine that tend to be slower in advancement," Meridina continued. "Perhaps the longer a race lives, the more patient their members are.  Although your species' tendency toward rapid development is not unheard of. It is our experience that the Dorei tend to be as impatient and changing as Humans do."  
  
Roslin nodded. "Commander, I have heard stories about your… abilities. Can you tell me why you thought it necessary to stay with the Fleet and not join your ship and crew on the rescue mission?"  
  
Meridina considered that question. She almost prevaricated, but it occurred to her that honesty was a superior policy to such acts; it would inspire trust. "I have uneasy feelings about this, Madame President. I fear that the remnant Cylons in your fleet may attempt something due to the success of our scanner."  
  
"The thought had crossed my mind," Roslin agreed. "Colonel Tigh has Marines on standby if something happens."  
  
"I fear that may be what our foes are relying upon," Meridina admitted. "Their greatest concern must now be your people reaching the safety of our space."  
  
""Yes." Roslin nodded. "I need to go see my people now, Commander. Once again, I thank you for your help, and I am sorry of what came between us."  
  
"Thank you, Madame President. Please, have a pleasant day."  
  
Roslin rolled off in the wheelchair and left Meridina to her thoughts. Through this general brightness, physical and emotional, Meridina thought she could feel a darkness but she wasn't sure. She had to be ready.  
  
  
  
  
Cavil hadn't expected to find dissent among the others. And he had never anticipated the dissent he found from the one he expected to be most willing for his plans.  
  
The Number Six model had adopted a name. Gina. Gina Invieve. And she had suffered horrifically the abuses of Admiral Cain and the crew of the _Pegasus_.  
  
"This is for the best," he insisted. "If you don't, they'll find you with their new technology. And they'll do it all to you all over again."  
  
Gina didn't look at him. She just kept looking off into space. Beside her were fliers from the Demand Peace movement. "The Plan," she murmured. "What is it?"  
  
"I don't follow," Cavil answered.  
  
"What is the Plan?", Gina asked. "And what has it brought us?"  
  
"It's the Plan of God," Cavil said "The plan to punish those who enslaved and abused us. Who abused you."  
  
"So God demands death?"  
  
"God demands justice. The annihilation of those who believe in false deities."  
  
Gina's eyes looked back to the fliers. "I wanted to hate them all," she said. "For what they did to me. For my suffering."  
  
"They should pay," Cavil insisted.  
  
Gina picked up one of the fliers and held it to Cavil. "Even the ones who wrote this?"  
  
Cavil stared at her. He took the flier and read it. The Demand Peace movement listed out all of the "crimes" that the Colonial society had committed against the Cylons before and during the last war. It spoke of the military causing the Cylon attack, of the military's continued desire to wage a war that could never be won, and how the only hope for peace and the future was to accept the Cylons and make peace with them.  
  
"They only say these things because they know we will annihilate them," Cavil said. "They would never say them otherwise." Cavil threw the flier aside. "You can't abandon the Plan. God's will must be obeyed."  
  
"One of them is the only reason I got away from Cain's torturers," Gina remarked. A haunted look filled her eyes. "I'm just… tired of it all. Tired of the treachery and death. If this is what must be done, I'll do it." She said those words without any of the conviction Cavil had desired. They weren't the words of a true believer in the Plan of God, simply the saying of someone who looked ready to die.  
  
 _She will have to be boxed_ , Cavil thought to himself. He couldn't afford her thinking such things.  
  
The funny thing was that Gina would probably consider that fate a mercy, if it meant an end to her existence.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aurora and the Pegasus lead a bold mission back to the Colonies to rescue survivors; the Cylon infiltrators in the Refugee Fleet plan one last strike before they are discovered.

They were at the last jump before the relief fleet would begin their run around the various Colonies. While Scotty and Barnes attended to checking the jump drive and making sure it was functioning, Admiral Adama came aboard with Thrace and Zack in order to go over their final plans.  
  
"We'll start here," Thrace said, standing beside Zack at the main holo-display in the briefing room. "Aquaria. From here we can move on separately to the other Colonies and rendezvous at Caprica."  
  
"Isn't Caprica the known location for the other survivors?", Robert asked. "Shouldn't we start there?"  
  
Adama and Thrace exchanged looks. That was enough for Robert to understand the choice was not military or practical, but political.  Julia was the one who inquired, "You're both Capricans, right?"  
  
"We are," Adama admitted.  
  
"And if we went to Caprica first, the others would accuse you of unfairly favoring your own world over theirs. But if Caprica goes last, then they can't question the order."  
  
"Not as effectively, anyway," Leo observed.  
  
"Do we have any solid indications on the Cylon fleet, Jarod?", Robert asked.  
  
Jarod and Caterina exchanged looks and shook their heads. "Nothing definitive," Jarod said. "I'm not sure if this means they're not maintaining a close patrol of the Colonies, or…"  
  
"....if this is a trap," Thrace added for him. "That they know we're coming and are waiting to jump us."  
  
"That is my concern as well," Adama said. "Until the evacuations are done, we'll need to keep a constant CAP out."  
  
"That'll be a strain on our flight crews," Julia noted. "But it's worth it."  
  
"After Aquaria, where do you think we should go?"  
  
Adama listed out the remaining colonies in order. _Aurora_ and half of the expedition would move on to Canceron while _Pegasus_ went to Aerilon. From where they'd split into the different systems, Helios Beta for _Pegasus_ and Gamma for _Aurora_ , before converging in Alpha and ultimately meeting back up at Gemenon.  
  
"Given the size of the Helios Cluster, _Koenig_ can effectively switch between groups if we sustain high warp speeds through the entire period," Zack pointed out. "We can also move ahead and start small-scale evacuations on the other Colonies ahead of the rest of you."  
  
"It would be better if you acted in the support role, Commander," Adama replied. "Keep your ship at the halfway point between _Pegasus_ ' group and _Aurora_ 's."  
  
"It's your call, Admiral," Zack said. "I'll keep our long range sensor sweeps active and be ready for any incoming signatures."  
  
"Are the other ships ready to begin evacuations?", Robert asked Jarod.  
  
Jarod nodded. "I've already consulted with our officers on the accompanying vessels. The transporter systems are as ready as they'll ever be. Backup pads are in place should we get a short in any of the systems. But we will have to be careful with the pace of the evacuation. And any battle damage to the ships in question, especially to their power systems, could knock out the entire portable system."  
  
"Our priority will be keeping the Cylons off of those transports then," Robert noted. "Angel, please make the necessary tactical preparations."  
  
Angel nodded at Robert. Very business-like, too. Just as it should be, but he admitted that customary familiarity might have made him feel better.  
  
"It appears everything is in order," Adama noted. "With that, I consider this briefing adjourned. May the Gods be with us all."  
  
That won a number of nods from the assembled. Adama had to appreciate the irony that he had just given that exhortation to people who were, by custom, monotheistic.  
  
With everyone filing out of the room, Robert stepped up to Adama. "Admiral, you don't seem entirely comfortable."  
  
"I don't see the Cylons letting us get away with something like this," Adama admitted. "They're going to hit us. Hard."  
  
"I get the same feeling," Robert agreed.  "We just have to wait and see what they try, I guess."  
  
"Keep your eyes open. "  
  
"Good luck, Admiral," Robert said.  
  
Adama's response was a nod that said the same sentiment.  
  
  
  
  
Jarod remained behind to clear up the briefing room before it would be time to finish the final drive checks.  
  
Julia came back into the room. "You've been busy the last few days," she observed. "Maybe you should take some time to rest before we make our plunge."  
  
"I'll be fine," he answered.

Julia regarded him with a hint of skepticism. "Jarod, can I ask you something?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Do you still beat yourself up over the Dalek attack?"  
  
Jarod looked up at her and considered that question. The Daleks had forced them to destroy the Facility to keep the Darglan technology out of the Daleks' metaphorical hands. During that time Jarod had matched wits with one of the creatures, trying to keep control of the Facility computers from its stubborn hacking attempt. At best, he had delayed the creatures only; the Dalek had consistently outmaneuvered him in the equivalent of cyberspace. Nullifying every code change, eliminating every counter-intrusion software written on the fly. He had faced a creature far more intelligent than he'd realized.  
  
"I suppose you could say that, yes," he admitted to her. "Farmer would still be alive today if we had stopped the Daleks."  
  
"Maybe," Julia admitted. "But how many of us would have died if you hadn't held them off?"  
  
"We nearly lost everything because I wasn't good enough," Jarod mumbled. "I've always relied on my intelligence. My ability to figure things out. That Dalek… he made me look like a putz."  
  
Julia walked closer, shaking her head. "No. None of us understood how intelligent and powerful the Daleks were. You saved our lives that day, Jarod. That's the past you should focus on. Not the loss of the Facility. Things worked out regardless."  
  
"Again, tell that to Carlton Farmer."  
  
Julia sighed wistfully. "Alright. You don't want to let it go yet. Just, please don't be afraid to talk about it."  
  
"In my own time," he answered. As he did so, he felt that familiar disbelief and anger at having failed so completely. He knew that couldn't happen again.  
  
No matter what. He had to _win_ the next time. Or he might lose everything… _and_ everyone.  
  
  
  
  
The flotilla of ships jumped right into the orbital space of Aquaria. The planet below bore the scars of the atomic devastation of the Cylon attack on the landmasses standing out from her oceanic surface. From sensors Caterina could see the remnant radiation affecting the planet. She shook her head. "I… I mean, I always knew this was the result of major nuclear initiations, but to actually see it…"  
  
"Steady, Cat," Julia said softly. "I know it's horrifying. But there could still be people alive down there."  
  
"Right. Scanning now." Caterina ran the light sign scans. "Remember that I can't tell the difference between Humans and Cylons up here."   
  
"Yes. That's why we're going to beam up samples from each concentration of life signs you find," Julia noted.  
  
"Okay. Starting scan." Caterina went to work. A sense of uncertainty came over the bridge as she did. Would there be anyone alive down there?  
  
It passed when Caterina's voice picked up to her more happy, excited tone. "Life signs! Several hundred of them, at least!  It looks like they're scattered in some of the smaller islands without major city centers."  
  
"Start beaming them up," Robert said. "Jarod, coordinate with the transporter operators on the other ships."  
  
"Maybe we should broadcast first?" Caterina suggested. "I mean… think of how scared they'll be just being yanked up like that."  
  
"This is why we've got someone from the Fleet waiting for them here," Julia said. "There's no guarantee any of the survivors have anything we can broadcast to."  
  
"And when it comes down to it, we're still pressed for time." Robert took in a breath.

Julia noticed that. "Is everything okay?"  
  
"I'm just feeling… off…" Robert admitted. "No Cylons yet? Not even their fleet?"  
  
"I know." Julia nodded. "All we can do is complete the mission and see what they throw at us."  
  
"It'll be something big," Robert said. "I'm sure of it."  
  
But there was nothing more to be said about the intense anxiety Robert felt about the situation. All he could do was wait while the transporter operators on all of the ships did their work.  
  
  
  
  
The evacuation was proceeding better than anyone might have expected. Adama remained quiet and introspective as he overheard the reports coming in to the _Pegasus_ CIC. Lieutenant Hoshi relayed the successful transports of the last identified survivors on Virgon.  
  
"Bring our fighters back home for jump," Kara ordered from her place near him. She looked apprehensive and for understandable reasons; the number of survivors on the various Colonies were pitifully small. Only a thousand from Aquaria, 300 on Aerilon, and their last report from _Aurora_ revealed there were only 400 from Scorpia. Sagittaron, Canceron, and Libran had each yielded over a thousand, many of them suffering from radiation sickness. Leonis had taken them a couple of hours; there were a surprising 2,400 survivors to be found.  
  
But survivor counts over 1,500 seemed to be the exception, not the rule. From all appearances the Cylons had openly hunted down and killed any concentrations of survivors they could find on the various Colonies. It made anger fester in Adama's heart at the sheer brutality the Cylons had shown; extermination just for the sake of extermination.  
  
"Makes you wonder how this fighting will inevitably end," he muttered.  
  
"Sir?", Kara asked.  
  
"The Cylons want us all dead," Adama said. "Why? What's their purpose? Why do they hate us so much?" Adama's expression grew dark. "And what will they do once we have the colony world in the Alliance that Captain Dale says is being determined?"  
  
"You think they'll still attack us even there?"  
  
"Seems to me that they'll stop at nothing to murder us all," Adama noted. "They've been toying with us the entire time, hunting us like animals… why would they stop simply because they find we're in Alliance territory?"  
  
"Maybe we should look into leaving this universe then?", Kara asked. "I mean, this whole 'Multiverse' thing that the _Aurora_ people having going on. I've heard some of them talk about an entire world and colony set aside for people like us, people needing a home."  
  
"New Liberty?" Adama nodded. "Yes, Captain Dale spoke about it with me. He thinks that we might be better off settling some of the open space on that world and working with their New Liberty Colony."  
  
"Other Humans," Kara said. "It'd be… well, I don't know. Interesting? We'd have to learn how they live, find ways to get along…"  
  
"The question is, give or take a few generations, would there be anything left of our people?", Adama observed. "Would we still be the Humans of the Colonies of Kobol, or just one part of the greater whole? Our grandchildren talking and acting and praying like them?"  
  
"They'd be alive, I guess."  
  
Adama nodded. "Yeah. But it's when I think of that outcome that I come to understand why President Roslin wants us to have our own world."  
  
"Well, there has to be other worlds out there we could colonize, in all those other universes. Somewhere we can get away from the Cylons."  
  
Adama didn't comment on that thought. There was a part of him that rebelled at it. Mostly from his understanding of what that meant; they would be forever abandoning their homeworlds to Cylon occupation. Sure, one day in the far future the Alliance _might_ drive the Cylons out, but by then their descendants would have been living together on a new world for how long? How many would decide to stay on a virgin world they had helped to build up instead of returning to the broken, irradiated Colonies?  
  
It was silly. But he couldn't help but see it as a betrayal of all of the people who died. Of everything that made the Colonists from Kobol whom they were.  
  
"Last flight is landing now, sir," Hoshi reported. "All ships are ready for jump."  
  
"It's time to finish this," Adama said. "Prepare a jump to Tauron. And keep your eyes open. The Cylons are up to something. There is no way they would let us get this far without something up their sleeve."  
  
"Preparing FTL jump now… fleet reporting readiness."  
  
Adama looked to the plotting. _Aurora_ would be off to Picon while they were at Tauron and the ships would rendezvous to finish Gemenon and Caprica last. And he was certain it was at Caprica that the Cylons would show their hand. That was his only explanation for why they had yet to launch any further attack.  
  
 _And we had better be ready for them._  
  
  
  
  
 _Koenig_ moved quietly through the interstellar space between the Helios cluster stars, under cloak and watching for Cylon activity. Zack sat at his command chair with a cup of rich replicated coffee. Hours of waiting and near boredom were growing more and more tense by the second.   
  
"So, where do you think we'll get assigned?", Magda asked him.  
  
"Hrm?"  
  
"When we leave _Aurora_ ," Magda continued. "Where do you think the fleet will assign us?"  
  
"Probably a frontier patrol," Zack mused. "Or back to M4P2 so we can chase the Batarians around."  
  
"I wouldn't mind going home myself," Apley said. "As in, being assigned to the Abdis command back home."  
  
"I don't know if I'm the diplomatic type," Zack admitted. Abdis in D3R1 tended to be a posting requiring careful diplomacy to balance the ever-continuing tensions of the Sol Republic and the Colonial Confederation. Both being members of the Alliance had not entirely eliminated the decades of heated ideological differences.  _That would be a tricky posting, but a chance to do some good_ , Zack considered in his head.  
  
"Shooting up Batarian slavers sounds more fun," April said from Tactical.   
  
"There's always going back to S5T3," Magda pointed out. "Patrols along the Cardassian border, dealing with Maquis…"  
  
"Would be nice to visit DS9 again sometime," Zack pondered. "I owe Commander Sisko a few baseball games."  
  
Magda sighed. "You _yanquis_ and your baseball. No appreciation for real football."  
  
"Speak for yourself, Lieutenant," April answered. "I was captain of the high school team."  
  
"Oh really?"  
  
"I scored five goals in my senior year," April continued.  
  
"I never went for either kind of football," Zack admitted. "Huh. I wonder what kind of sports the Colonials like to play?"  
  
"Probably nothing like we have," Apley noted. "Well, unless they're actually long-lost descendants of Earth colonists. Maybe they were on this 'Kobol' world for so long that they forgot they came from Earth?"  
  
"An interesting thought, sure," Zack mused.   
  
There was a tone at Ops. "Signal from _Pegasus_ , sir." Magda looked back at him. "Still no opposition. They're jumping to Tauron now."  
  
"Take us into the Helios Alpha system, Ap," Zack said. "We'll go scout out Gemenon."  
  
"Changing course from patrol route now."  
  
  
  
  
Robert had taken some time to eat in his ready room while the evacuation of Picon's 2,000 or so survivors continued. Julia entered with a happy look on her face, a new thing given how dour everyone had been as the hunt for survivors had proven so difficult and unrewarding. "Well, I do have some good news for their Fleet," she said.  
  
"What?", Robert asked.  
  
"The Piconese survivors apparently have a ship," she said. "Some of them survived by hiding their ship in a jungle canyon and keeping it powered down. Lucy is planetside helping them get the ship spaceworthy. Her jump engine is intact and they'll be able to join us. Jarod calculates she can hold up to around fifteen hundred people comfortably."  
  
Robert raised an eyebrow. "That _is_ good news. The Colonials could use that extra space."  
  
Julia's smile faded. "I know you were hoping to recover more people, Robert. But we shouldn't have held out too much hope for a lot of survivors. As it is, just our half of the fleet has gotten nearly 6,000 people out. Picon is just one of the lucky ones."  
  
"One wonders how Mister Zarek will take it that only eleven hundred of his people survived," Robert mused.  
  
"Not well. But at least it's eleven hundred more," Julia observed.  
  
"I'm just wondering what comes next," Robert said. "Because this can't be the end of it. The Cylons are going to continue pursuing Adama's fleet. I'm surprised they haven't already attacked us, they have to know we're here."  
  
"I think they'll hit us over Caprica," Julia said. "Angel and I are in agreement on that."  
  
"Maximum terror and effectiveness?" Robert proposed. "It makes sure they get a shot at annihilating all of the survivors in one swoop."  
  
"Yeah. Laurent and his people are ready for a combat launch the moment that time comes."  
  
"And what about Zack?"  
  
"Currently waiting under cloak at Gemenon."  
  
"Good. We're almost done." Robert looked out the window at the broken planet of Picon. He felt unsettled. _So much death. It's like I can feel it in my bones, in my soul._ "I'm tired of flying through this graveyard."  
  
"You and me both," Julia answered.  
  
  
  
  
At Gemenon _Koenig_ was already finished scanning the planet when the two halves of the rescue fleet jumped into orbital space. Zack nodded when Magda informed him _Pegasus_ was hailing. "Koenig here, Admiral," Zack said as soon as the channel opened.  
  
" _Commander, I want you to move on to Caprica. The Cylons are most likely to ambush us once we're completing the Caprica evacuation._ "  
  
"Understood, Commander. We'll get underway right away,. At full impulse it shouldn't take us long."  
  
" _One other thing_ ," Adama said. " _Captain Thrace wants to go with you._ "  
  
"Oh?"  
  
" _She'll be taking a team of Marines led by Commander Kane,_ " Adama continued. " _Just in case the resistance on Caprica is under siege._ "  
  
Zack looked to Magda. "Have the transporters ready. As soon as Captain Thrace, Commander Kane, and their teams are here, we'll head on out."  
  
After a few minutes Kane and Thrace stepped onto the _Koenig_ bridge. Kane was in Marine combat armor and Thrace was wearing what passed for Colonial field gear, complete with a sidearm. Both were carrying the new Cylon detectors. "Carrey."  
  
"Starbuck." he nodded back. "It's going to be an hour or two at full impulse. Might want to find somewhere to sit."  
  
"What, can't you just use those 'warp drive' engines to get there faster?" Kara asked.  
  
"Warping through a gravity well is a tricky business," Zack answered. "Especially if you're moving at distances rated in light-seconds. Sometimes it's just better to take it slow."  
  
"Besides, if there is a Cylon ambush waiting for us, we're more likely to see it coming in at impulse," Sherlily pointed out.  
  
"Yes. My esteemed tactical officer raises my other concern," Zack said. "Last thing we want to do is warp right into the gunsights of a Cylon ship."  
  
"Even under cloak?"  
  
"Magda can explain how a ship coming out of warp doesn't necessarily remain completely undetected," Zack remarked. "Normally I'd be all for getting this done. But it's best to be careful for this one."  
  
"Good point," Kara conceded. But she still seemed very impatient.  
  
"I'm guessing you know someone down there?", Zack inquired.  
  
"Yeah." Kara nodded. "Yeah, you could say that."  
  
"Don't worry, Starbuck," Zack said. "We'll get him back. All of them. "  
  
"If they're still alive," Kara mused sullenly.  
  
"Until we know otherwise, they're all alive, right?"  
  
"Yeah." She nodded. "Right."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aurora and the Pegasus lead a bold mission back to the Colonies to rescue survivors; the Cylon infiltrators in the Refugee Fleet plan one last strike before they are discovered.

When _Koenig_ made orbit of Caprica Magda began scanning immediately. "I'm detecting Human life signs at various points on the planet."

"Numbers?", Kara asked urgently.

For a moment Magda examined them closely. "At least…. twelve hundred."

Thrace sighed and lowered her head. "Gods, that's... " She swallowed. "I had no idea that there were so many left."

"The question is, how many are Cylons?", Zack asked.

"Well, several dozen are very isolated all across the planet," Magda noted. "With a few I'm picking up concentrations of refined metallic substances. Presumably those are the Cylons."

"I'd put a solar torpedo into each and every one of those concentrations if I could," Zack mumbled. "But that's not what we're here for. Magda, anything on sensors?"

"Just some planet-based sensors. They can't see us, that's for certain."

"But they can probably call in help," Zack noted. "April. Lock on to each of those locations. The _moment_ that the fleet is due to jump in, I want a torpedo dropping on their heads."

"They seem to be concentrated around the largest of the cities," Sherlily said. "I think I can get them all with one spread."

"Good."

"So now the question is, how do we get down without being seen?", Kane asked. "I don't suppose any of the shuttles cloak?"

"Nope," Zack said. "But there is one trick I remember Sisko talking about back on DS9." Zack reached over and hit his intercom. "Engineering. Karen, do you think you could pull off a transport under cloak?"

" _It'll be tricky. But I might be able to get you enough power. The problem would be the cloaking field disrupting the transporter beam._ "

"Any way to account for that?"

" _Give me a moment to think. The problem is that if I weaken the field too much the cloak won't hide us from detection by most common detection systems._ "

"Well…."

While this discussion went on Thrace walked up to Operations. She leaned over beside Magda and pointed to a part of Caprica. "Can you show me more about this group?"

Magda nodded. "Sure." She zoomed in the vie, allowing the clump of life signs to become more refined and show more individual people. "Looks like thirty-six life signs. No, thirty-seven. All Human."

Relief was visible on Thrace's face. "Thank the Gods, they're all still alive."

Magda nodded. "I'm not detecting…" She squinted. "Wait." She hit a few keys and shifted the view to a short distance away. More life signs were moving across the screen joined by other signatures the sensors were detecting. "Those aren't Human signatures. Those are energy signatures. I'm detecting metal concentrations…."

"Dammit," Thrace breathed. "Commander, we have a situation!"

"What?" Zack turned to face them.

Magda answered, "I'm picking up what looks like a Cylon attack group approaching one of the concentrations of Human life."

"Crap," Zack sighed. He looked to Kane. "Get your people ready. I'm sending you and Captain Thrace down." Zack looked to Apley. "Bring us in toward the north pole of Caprica, Ap. As close to the atmosphere as you can get us."

" _Commander, this might not work. If their sensors are too refined or we make too much of a disturbance in the upper atmosphere..._ "

"it's a risk I'm willing to take, Karen," Zack answered.

" _Right. I'll get my best people to the main transporter room then. Good luck. Engineering out._ "

By the time this was said Thrace and Kane had already left the bridge.

 

 

 

For weeks, Samuel Anders had been nursing a hope he knew to be unlikely. That Kara Thrace would return with reinforcements from _Galactica_. That he and his band of survivors might actually survive.

Today his hopes and prayers were answered.

Albeit not in the way he expected.

He and the others were cleaning their firearms in the central, open area of their base when the half-dozen pillars of light formed in front of them. When they dissipated he saw Kara standing among five other people. Two were in Colonial uniforms, but the other three had on body armor that he had never seen before and carried guns like out of some science fiction serial.

Another group of lights appeared nearby about five seconds later. Six more beings appeared in their number, all of them with the strange armor and weapons. As Anders went to speak Kara's name, his eyes widened as he focused on one of the appeared beings.

Despite said creature's helmet, he could see that he or whatever it was _was not human_. A blue beak protruded from its face like a bird's beak.

"By the Gods?!" The cry of surprise caused several people to start going for weapons.

"Woh! Woh, hold it!" Kara held her arms up. "They're friendlies!"

"What the hell is going on here, Kara?!", Anders demanded, still shocked.

"It's okay," Kara said. "They're our allies against the Cylons. We came down because the Cylons are moving to attack you, right now!"

"Speaking of Cylons…" Kane raised his head from looking at a display on his arm. "Sensors have them almost to the perimeter of the compound."

"That's ridiculous," one of the others said. "They'd…"

Gunfire erupted in the distance.

"The pickets." Anders nodded at Kane. "Right. Everyone get your weapons! They're coming for us!"

"Ijala, find a perch!", Kane shouted.

Ijala chirped in reply. The Alakin Marine pulled out his sniper rifle and went for the nearest building with a roof he could snipe from.

"Dijalas, Mendelssohn, you're on the north end. Lewis, Rashid, South!" Kane finished assigning four of his other Marines to the other main points of the compass. "I don't want those toasters coming in on our blindside," he explained to Anders.

More gunfire temporarily interrupted Anders. When it was over he nodded in agreement. "So what now? How did you just appear like that?"

"Beamed down from a ship in orbit. And no, we can't just beam you out, they'll detect our ship and the rest of the fleet isn't here yet."

"Fleet?" Anders looked to Kara. "They're going to drive the Cylons out?"

"No, just to get you out," she answered. "We've been sweeping the Colonies getting all of the survivors we can."

More gunfire came from downhill. "Time to talk is over," Kane said. "Get your guns and find some cover!"

 

 

 

Shortly after the last transport was finished on _Koenig_ Zack finally asked," Any sign they detected us?"

"None at the moment," Magda said. "But…"

"But? But what?"

Magda was busy looking over the sensor returns from the surface. "I've been scanning all of the remaining life sign groups. I'm now detecting more energy signatures approaching each."

"A concerted attack," Apley pointed out. "They're going to wipe the Caprican survivors out."

"Can we do anything about it?", Zack asked.

"We don't have the security personnel or surplus crew to hold all of those points," Sherlily pointed out. "And if we fire torpedoes we might just hit friendlies in the process.

"Yeah. Of course. Because nothing can be simple. Alright, get me _Pegasus_."

 

 

 

Roslin and Billy were at the restaurant on _Cloud Nine_ enjoying their late lunch. Roslin felt good to be able to hold down food again. She also noticed that she wasn't the only one looking better. "My illness was a drain on you too," she noted.

Billy didn't deny it. "It was my job to take care of you, Madame President. I felt helpless to see you dying like that."

She nodded. "I understand." She turned her head to look outside. Children were playing in the grass under the supervision of a pair of adolescents. "Despite everything, people seem so much happier now."

"Meeting the people from Earth - or whatever they are - is giving everyone a feeling that we have a future." Billy took a drink and put his fork into his salad. "I mean... a place we can go to be away from the Cylons. Somewhere we don't have to worry about them chasing us. Maybe we should go to one of those other universes they have so the Cylons can never find us."

"It's a thought," Roslin agreed. "I'm just happy to see so many smiles again."

Unfortunately, it wasn't a smile that was on Lee's face when he stepped into the restaurant. He saluted to Roslin, who nodded back. "We have a situation, Madame President."

"What?" She considered the possibilities. If the Cylons had begun attacking there would have been an alarm across the ship to jump. That was the plan for any Cylon ships coming in.

"We were ready to begin the scanning procedures," Lee said. "But... well, there's a protest now."

"A protest?", Roslin asked. "Over the Cylon scanners?"

Lee nodded. "Yes ma'am."

Roslin took in a breath. She set the salad fork down and nodded to Billy. "Let's go, Billy. I need to talk to these people. We need to make sure they're not being manipulated by Cylons."

"I've already signaled Commander Meridina to meet us there," Lee said. "It's at the podium for the address you planned later."

Roslin didn't answer that. She was already thinking through all of the possibilities of what was going on.

 

 

 

Adama was listening, along with Robert from _Aurora_ , to Commander Carrey's report. Inwardly he mused that this was likely not a coincidence. The Cylons had yet to challenge them because Caprica was clearly their chosen battlefield. "Do what you can, Commander. We're almost done here."

The line cut, but Adama remained on with Dale. " _We can jump ahead, Admiral,_ " Robert said. " _I have enough security and Marine personnel to secure those ground sites even if we can't safely bombard from orbit._ "

"It's risky, Captain," Adama pointed out. "You'll likely trip whatever Cylon trap is waiting for you. And if they launch at us instead, it'll take time for your drives to cool down for another jump."

"I know. But I think it's a necessary risk, sir. Without it hundreds of innocent people will die."

Adama noticed the attention of the CIC crew. Undoubtedly they were already weighing his choices against Cain's. An amusing thought since Cain would have undoubtedly started a war with these people over the Cylon Sharon.

They could judge as they wanted. He would make his decision based on what needed to be done, not to measure up to a dead woman.

"You're right," Adama agreed. "It is. Jump ahead, do what you can. We'll follow as soon as the last ship signals readiness for the jump to Caprica."

" _Yes, Admiral. Jumping now._ "

 

 

 

Meridina's senses were alert. She followed Roslin to the improvised stage so she could address the citizens who were protesting the scanners. "They're all fake!", one man yelled. "They're here for the Alliance people to turn us against each other and conquer us!"

"Really?", Roslin asked. "Because I have seen these devices. They work. They have been demonstrated to me and to Admiral Adama, who supports their use."

Cavil stepped up through the crowd, acting every inch the humble priest. "Please, Madame President, understand their fear," he said calmly. "It is easy to forget how wild the stories are that cross our fleet. We have heard about how certain Alliance personnel, such as their security officer, can enter and alter minds.''

"Are you suggesting I am being mentally influenced?", Roslin asked, bemused.

"I'm only saying how people might take it," Cavil answered. "You know I have often tried to tend to the souls of our people and assuage their fears. I did not want any misunderstandings." Cavil looked to Meridina. "Can I help you?"

Meridina had indeed been paying careful attention to him. She sensed deception. She could not be sure what kind, not without entering his mind, but this man was not being as honest as he depicted. He had a greater agenda. "I am merely contemplating the issues, sir," she answered politely. Now was not the place to be confrontational. "I understand that fear can be a powerful agent in the minds of people. Especially those who have already lost so much."

"Then you would understand why it might be best, to delay these scans?", Cavil asked her and, through her, asked Roslin. "Until Admiral Adama comes back, perhaps. When people will feel safer."

Roslin put her hands together. "I understand that so much change has come to the Colonies lately. I'm sympathetic to you all. I was scared myself at first. To have so many things questioned. To find out how much there was that we didn't know about the universe, so to speak, and our place in it. But I learned, the hard way, that fear is not the answer to this. We must face the future as it is. And we must not let fear cloud our judgement."

Meridina looked back to Lee, who was quietly looking through the scanner he had brought along. His gaze was fixed on the readout screen. She stepped over and looked at what he was seeing.

He had focused the scanner on the crowd. Most were showing up as blue figures. Humans.

Built several, not many but several, were gold.

Cylons.

Cavil seemed to focus on Meridina and Lee. A small smirk crossed his face.

Meridina had only seconds to react. She used her power to push Roslin and her wheelchair off of the podium.

Force erupted from beneath the spot where Roslin had been sitting. The blast knocked both off their feet as well as the Marines brought along for Roslin's security.

The impact from that fall dazed Meridina momentarily. Gunfire began to erupt around her.

 

 

 

_Aurora_ jumped into orbit of Caprica. The moment she did, _Koenig_ decloaked and sent a spread of solar torpedoes into the surface of the planet, hitting the identified positions of Cylon communications and sensor arrays.

On the _Aurora_ bridge, Julia was busy working with Lieutenant Kemap, Meridina's second in command, and Lieutenant Gurel, the senior Marine commander on the ship. They were already preparing to beam down even as Robert gave the order to launch all of _Aurora_ 's fighters.

" _Koenig_ 's torpedo bombardment is complete," Jarod said. "From what I can tell, they completely suppressed the Cylon control and communications in this system."

"They're not likely to take long to see what we've done, though."

"Teams beaming down now," Angel reported.

"Angel, do you think you can take out the Cylons with orbital fire?", Julia asked.

"In a few of these cases, yeah, but I'm risking friendly fire in some cases."

"Do what you can," Robert ordered. "Every point you can't we'll dispatch teams and begin evacuations."

 

 

 

In Anders' resistance base, Kane eyed an approaching Cylon robot through the scope of his assault rifle. His finger squeezed the trigger and bolts of azure light slammed into the machine. Its polished gray exterior turned red and orange wherever the bolts scourged its hide. Sparks erupted from within and the red eye died down. Given that the firearms of the resistance weren't doing so well, Kane didn't seem surprised by the looks his Marines were getting from the others. This was the first firefight between the Cylons and Alliance troops, and Kane intended to make the Cylons fear the combat firepower of an Allied Systems Marine.

He drew a bead on another Cylon pouring fire into a Resistance position, keeping them pinned in. Before he could pull the trigger a bolt of orange light came from behind and overhead. Ijala's shot took the Cylon's head clean off.

"Gods, we're going to actually win this thing, aren't we?", Anders said, surprised and gladdened at the same time. "Where did you find these people, Kara?"

"They're from Earth," Kara answered, smirking. "Or something like that. It's a really long story."

" _Sir, no fire from the south yet. But I think they're moving to hit our flank_ ," said one of Kane's Marines over the radio.

"Engage and destroy if they come close, but hold your position." Kane keyed his command frequency to the ships above. "Kane to _Koenig_ , got any ETA on our pickup?"

To Kane's pleasure, it was Commander Andreys who answered. " _We're completing an evacuation of a pressed survivor position. Standby._ "

"Good. Because we've got several dozen people down here who need evac."

 

 

 

Julia nodded. "Understood, Commander. We'll get those people up ASAP." She looked to Robert. "Interesting timing, don't you think?"

"I don't think it's just timing," Robert answered. "This is intentional." He looked back to Cat. "Anything on long range sensors?"

"No," Cat answered. "I'm not picking any subspace spikes. Nothing consistent with the Cylon fleet."

"They could be hiding," Julia pointed out. "Adama said something about an anchorage? Ragnar?"

"So they could just jump right on top of us."

"Shields are still up whenever we're not beaming," Angel said. "They won't get any first hits on us."

"We've finished evacuating the most threatened groups," Jarod reported. "Transporters are standing by to pull Kane's group out."

"Start the process."

 

 

 

Kara left cover to begin lining up the non-combatants of Anders' group for transport. "Just stay in these positions," she said. "Stay in them and you'll be fine. "You're going up to a ship."

The first group was taken a moment later. Kara moved on to the second group as they lined up. _Dammit, I should have remembered one of those scanners. But at least they've got them up on the ship too. We've got to get these people out of the firing zone or someone's going to get killed._

As her eyes passed over another waiting group, she spotted one pair of eyes and the face that went with it. Familiarity struck her. She'd seen…

"Oh _frak_ ," Kara cursed. "Stop him! Stop that priest, he's a Cylon!"

Kane and his Marines responded immediately, wheeling around with weapons raised.

The Cavil unit in Anders' resistance couldn't keep the smile off his face, even though he had just been outed. The contempt he felt for even these advanced Humans swelled eagerly at the mistake of letting the attack distract them.

His finger was already on the activation key of the transmitter he carried with him. He pressed barely a moment before Commander Kane put two rounds into his torso.

 

 

 

In Engineering Scotty looked up at hearing the alarm tone. "What in blazes is that?", he asked.

Nearby Lucy, working with him on keeping the rigged jump system working, went over to a monitor. "That's odd. That jump drive… there's some sort of activity coming from it…" Lucy's eyes widened. "Jamming field! Get a jamming field up now!"

Scotty was too far away from the relevant control, but one of the engineers got to it immediately and did as ordered.

The lights went out a moment later.

 

 

 

The first sign that something was wrong on the bridge was when Jarod noted activity in the ship communications system. "That's odd," he said.

"Jarod?"

"Something's being transmitted through the communications syst…"

The lights on the bridge died out, replaced a moment later by the white emergency lights.

"I'm getting widespread system failures across the ship," Jarod reported. "Something's locking out our controls."

"What just happened?", Robert asked, although he already knew the answer. _Cylon virus, it's got to be, but how?_

"It's some sort of virus. Advanced, very smart, it's already learning..." Jarod's hands started running over the Ops station controls. "I'm trying to purge it but it's putting up protective controls. It's usurping administration control of our computer control systems."

"What systems do we still have?", Julia asked.

"Life support's on a closed automatic network, it can't access that. Manual helm control is possible, armor and hull self-repair systems are also isolated, but we've got no shields and no FTL, all subspace communications are out."

"Send a signal to _Koenig…_ "

"Not advisable," Jarod pointed out. "This thing could use our signal as a piggyback ride into _Koenig_ 's systems."

"Subspace spike!", Cat shouted. "I've got a subspace spike on sensors, it's….!"

On the screen, flashes of light appeared. From within them the shapes of Cylon warships formed.

"How many?", Julie asked.

"Ten, at least," Caterina said. "They're launching fighters!"

"Direct our fighters to intercept… dammit, are our fighters affected too?"

"Not from what I can tell," Jarod said. "But if we try to tie our command-and-control into their networks the virus might spread."

"Enemy boarding ships launching too!"

"Evasive maneuvers," Robert ordered. "Evasives, now!"

"I'm trying!", Locarno answered. "But manual helm control hasn't giving me a lot of options!"

The ship began to shake steadily as Cylon fire struck the hull. Robert clutched the arms of his command chair. "Jarod…?"

"I'm trying to keep it out of the other systems. The virus keeps shifting its position in the computers, writing itself new permissions and access authority every time I cut off one of its access points."

"Can you get us engines back at least?"

"That's what I'm trying, please stop distracting me!" Jarod kept at his work, writing new command access procedures on the fly and using them to try and cut off the virus from the systems it was shutting down remotely. It retaliated each time he tried, circumventing his new protections.

_It's happening again_ , he thought. His mind flashed back to the Dalek that had beaten him for control of the Facility's systems.

Once again, he was losing.

 

 

 

The plight of the _Aurora_ was not lost on _Koenig_. "What the hell?!", Zack had cried out upon seeing _Aurora_ 's acceleration decrease and her shields drop. And then the Cylons jumped in. "What's going on?"

"It looks like they're suffering multiple system failures," Magda reported. She reached over and tapped several keys. "I'm picking up further transmissions from the Cylon ships. They're trying to access our computer systems."

"Can they?", Zack demanded.

Magda shook her head. "No. The firewall precautions Jarod and I set up are too strong. The signal receiver is isolated from computer control and can't be used as a conduit for their virus coding."

"Well, thank goodness for small favors, right?"" Zack nodded to Ap. "Okay. Code Red, Ap." As the klaxons blared and the running lights for the ship turned red, Zack turned to Sherlily. "It'll take us too long to actually deal with those Basestars. Concentrate your firepower on any boarding ships. I'm not letting them put any forces on _Aurora_."

"Roger that."

"Accelerating to combat speeds," Apley said.

"Get me Adama."

 

 

 

Adama listened with consternation to the report from Commander Carrey. A thought occurred to him; that jump drive system they'd installed. The Cylons must have left a little surprise.

"How long until the fleet is ready to jump?" he asked Hoshi.

"Two ships are reporting mechanical troubles. They need ten more minutes to check their drives," Hoshi answered.

Adama nodded.  "How many of our people are on those ships?"

"All of the Aerilon survivors," Hoshi answered. "And most of the Leonis survivors."

So that was his choice. Risk those ships and the precious survivors on board them, further hope for their people, or risk that the Cylons might either destroy the _Aurora_ or, even worse, seize her and reverse-engineer the technology on the powerful ship.

"Inform those ships that they are to jump to Caprica when ready," Adama said. "As for the rest of the fleet, we're jumping for Caprica. Have the civilian ships make the jump to two thousand kilometers out and maneuver to the opposite side of the planet from the Cylon forces there."

"Yes sir," Hoshi said. "I'm recalling our Vipers now. Estimate two minutes until we can jump."

"Tell them they have one minute," Adama answered. "All hands, Assume Action Stations, Condition One."

 

 

 

Cavil knew he had been found out, but that had been expected.

What he hadn't expected was to see the Gersallian woman react quickly enough to save Roslin. That irked him; the blast meant to kill her had simply thrown others on the podium back.

"It's a Cylon attack!" he screamed, wanting to laugh at what he felt to be a sort of joke at the Humans' expense.

The attack occurred with brutal swiftness. Cylons pulled out guns and started firing into the crowd. More explosives went off. Not all of the blasts were deadly, it was simply meant to add to the chaos. All across the ship more bombs would go off and other Cylons would begin setting off attacks with their firearms.

Of course, that wasn't the only thing being done. With this scanning technology the Cylons in the Fleet were all dead. That much was certain. But with the ships nearby to catch their minds and resurrect them, there was no fear in that. Simply the duty to God, the need to kill as many of these apes as possible.

What surprised Cavil was the speed with which the Gersallian recovered. The Cylons knew of these ' _swevyra'se_ " of course, but they had always been careful never to face them.

That policy proved wise given what happened next.

Meridina moved with speed even the Cylons couldn't match. One moment she was barely back to her feet, but the next there was a sharp metal sound in the air and her blade was out and extended. There was a shimmer of blue around the memory metal blade as it swung out and deflected a bullet intended for Roslin's head. Cavil scowled and started pulling the trigger repeatedly, but it was to no avail as the _lakesh_ caught each bullet in mid-flight. Meridina calmly lifted her hand and extended her arm. Cavil felt like he had been hit by a shuttle.

The other Cylons were starting to react, turning away from the Colonial people they had been shooting with abandon. They faced Meridina with guns drawn. Surely the amount of firepower would keep her from deflecting all of them.

And she wouldn't have deflected them all, true. But that didn't mean anything, as it turned out. Meridina dashed forward and reached her arm out again. Raw force sent the Cylons flying.  She got to the nearest one and with a single cut removed the male Cylon's hands from his wrists. He screamed and fell. The next Cylon compelled Meridina to go for a more permanent solution, a blow to the neck that sliced out the carotid artery.

Lee struggled to his feet. He looked up in time to see Meridina slice through the ranks of the assembled Cylons with perfect poise. He stared in disbelief at how fast and decisive she was. Every strike fell home. Every Cylon shot was deflected or evaded, as if she knew where they were going to shoot. _The only reason we ever held her prisoner was because she let us_ , he realized

Billy, defiant of the firing, rushed to Roslin's wheelchair. "Madame President!", he called out, reaching for her. Roslin looked daze as her hand came up, feebly, to reach for him. "Ma'am, we have to get to safety!"

Billy's shouts drew the attention of one of the remaining Cylons, a blond woman that Lee recognized. Shelly… Godford, he thought, if he remembered the name correctly. She was drawing her weapon into a ready position. Lee could see she was only seconds away from killing Billy, Roslin, or both. There was barely enough time to think when he pulled his weapon and fired. Blood erupted from the Cylon's body where his bullets struck home.

A moment later Meridina knocked the Cylon over with her abilities. The threat had passed.

_"Captain Adama, do you read? This is Corporal Hansforth, sir._ "

Lee pulled out the radio he'd taken. "I'm here."

"We've got reports of violence and casualties all over the ship, sir."

"It's the Cylons," Lee said. "They've launched a terrorist attack. The President is wounded but alive."

" _Orders?_ "

Lee felt frustration come to his face. "Deploy the Marines. Try to quell the violence without killing any civilians. Just make sure the Cylons aren't killing them either. And make sure the Quorum are protected!"

" _Roger that, Captain._ "

There was a grunt of pain. Lee saw the last Cylon go down with Meridina's _lakesh_ over his head. She'd just smacked him with the pommel. There was some blood on her robes, but the sword was surprisingly clean for all the cutting it had just been used for. "Captain Adama." She nodded respectfully. "Do we have any more information?"

"It's a general attack," Lee said. "The Cylons are going out in one massive strike."

"Yes. I suppose it makes sense from their perspective." Meridina sighed. She was clearly not as unmoved by the carnage as she had seemed. "But I sense greater things planned than a mere shooting attack."

There was a choking laugh nearby. Cavil got up on his side. "You can't stop us," he said. "You'll never stop us. Our way is the way of the future."

Lee and Meridina stepped up to him. "You were a Cylon all along," Lee said, frowning.

"The worst part was pretending to follow your false gods," Cavil answered. "You have… it's so funny, you have no idea who it is you worship. No idea…"

Meridina looked at him with curiosity. She no longer sensed deception, not immediate deception. "I am unaware of how their religion has any bearing on this."

"It has everything to do with it!"," Cavil laughed. "Stupid organic meatbags, that's all you are. "

Lee's retort was immediate. "That's funny, because from where I stand, it looks like you're just as organic as we are."

"No," he rasped. "I'm more. I'm so much more…."

Meridina went to inquire further but stopped. "A distraction," she said.

"What?", Lee asked.

"He is distracting us. This entire attack is meant to grab our attention." Meridina knelt beside him. "What are you really planning?"

Cavil smirked. "Why don't you find out, Mindwalker?"

Meridina considered that response for a moment. "You _want_ me to read your mind. You…" Her eyes widened.

With only seconds to spare, she threw herself on Lee and knocked him clear.

Cavil's finger was already pressing the detonator.

The explosion would have killed them both if Meridina had not jumped at just the right time. Instead she and Lee rolled on, coming to a stop on the natural grass with burning wreckage and charred chunks of cyber-ized flesh lying around them. "Frak it," Lee mumbled. Pain was shooting through his side.

Meridina put a hand on him. She felt bruised and worn too. She felt certain there was nothing broken though. After a moment of concentration she said, "You have a cracked rib. My apologies."

"Better than being blown to pieces, I guess," Lee answered hoarsely.

Meridina stood and focused. She felt out with her essence, her very life force, for the injury, and did what she could to mend it. Lee stared at her in some amazement at feeling his pain recede. "We are not in circumstances that would have allowed me to heal you more fully,' she explained.

"Thanks anyway."

Meridina nodded. She turned her attention away from him for the moment, sensing for what may come, what was going on. Looking for…

_There_.

"We must hurry," she said to Lee.

"What? What's wrong?"

"This was all a ruse," Meridina explained. "The real Cylon plan is still progressing. I believe I can find their operative."

"Well…" Lee reached down and checked his sidearm. He still had several rounds in it. "Lead the way."

 

 

 

The advancing Cylon combat drones continued to pour fire into Anders' burning resistance encampment. Kara and Anders hid behind a one of the disabled vehicles for cover . "Some rescue," Anders remarked.

"Frakking Cylons," Kara growled. "They must have sabotaged the _Aurora_ with a virus. Something hidden in that jump drive."

"It sounds that way," Kane said from his own nearby cover. He poked his head out and let out a spray of fire. They could hear the Cylon he targeted shrieking as it was ripped up by the burst. "I can't raise them on comms!"

"Suggestions?", Kara asked.

"Yeah. We hold out until help arrives," Kane replied.

 

 

 

_Koenig_ plunged into the group of Cylon fighters and heavy raiders approaching _Aurora_ 's port side. Her phaser cannons blazed away with pulses of amber light. The Cylon ships, even the heavy ones, burst like eggs as they were hammered in turn by the fury of the attack ship. Behind her a flight of Mongoose fighters peeled away and engaged another of the Cylon boarding ships. Their own pulse weapons peppered it with energy fire. One of the pilots let loose with a missile that finished the raider ship off.

On _Koenig_ 's bridge the ship rattled. "Direct hit from the nearest Cylon vessel," Magda said. "Shields holding at eighty percent."

"I really didn't want to find out how much those things could possibly hurt us," Zack noted. "Ap, evasive maneuvers where you can."

"I'm trying, but I can't do much if we want to keep those boarding craft off of _Aurora_ ," he answered.

_Dammit guys, what's taking so long. The Cylons couldn't have knocked out your systems that badly… could they?_

 

 

 

On the _Aurora_ there was another harsh shaking as more Cylon weapons impacted on the hull. "Damage report," Robert said.

With Jarod busy dealing with the virus, Julia had taken over that task. "Damage to Decks 18 through 23, Section G, and Decks 25 and 27 Section L," she said. "Self-repair systems are repairing what they can, but with our systems compromised they're being overloaded."

"Angel?"

"Weapons systems aren't responding," she said. "I can't aim my fire, if I just shoot I might hit our side."

Robert almost asked Jarod for an update, but held himself back. Jarod was clearly locked in intense combat with the Cylon virus in their system.

Cat's voice spoke up. "Subspace spike!" She looked at him with a smile. "It's the _Pegasus!_ "

 

 

 

"DRADIS contacts confirm ten enemy base stars," Fisk reported to Adama.

"Raising shield systems." This was from another officer on the bridge, Lt. Kendra Shaw.

"Great circumstances for a full combat test of the shields," Adama sarcastically mused to himself. Aloud he gave the necessary orders. "Engage the basestars nearest _Aurora_. I want our Vipers to keep any enemy boarding craft off of her."

With Adama's order the _Pegasus_ plunged into a battle that just two weeks before would have looked suicidal. Her railgun mounts opened up with fury on the nearest Basestar while Vipers shot from her launch deck.

"Don't accept any incoming communication from _Aurora_ ," Adama said. "Not until they get that virus under control."

"Assuming they can," Fisk mumbled.

Adama grunted. He didn't think that possibility needed mentioning. Besides, the kids over there were smart. Fighting a Cylon virus seemed to be their kind of thing.

 

 

 

Jarod was ready to grind his teeth with frustration. This… thing was out-thinking him at every turn, circumventing everything he threw at it. It refused to release its iron grip on the _Aurora_ 's defensive systems or propulsion. The only progress he could claim to be making was that the virus couldn't start locking out more systems while it took up commandeered processing power fighting him.

_Not again_ , he thought. "I'm not getting beaten again," he said to himself. "Not by something like this."

"Jarod?', Julia asked.

"Not now," he barked back, too intent on his task for decorum or protocol to matter. He took a moment to ponder the foe he was up against. A virus specifically tailored to render ships helpless, to identify any software obstacle to its control and bypass it or, over time, eliminate it. That was the key. How could he deal with this thing? Get it to stop going after the vital systems, to trap it in _Aurora_ 's computer systems?

The ship rocked heavily again, reminding him of their time constraint. "Hull breach on Deck 6," Julia declared. "Emergency forcefields not responding."

"How many?", Robert asked.

There was strain in Julia's voice too when she answered, "I can't tell. Not yet. At least five people were in that section."

Jarod closed his eyes for a moment and thought about this problem, even as he kept feeling the pressure of the situation push him down. Every moment he failed to get the ship running again, members of this crew were dying. How long before this kind of thing killed one of them? The wrong hit and the entire bridge might get taken out.  Certainly the Cylons were going to start targeting the bridge soon enough. ''I'm picking up damage to Deck 10, Section C," Julia said. "One of their breaching pods got through. I'm sending Marines and security to contain the Cylon boarding party."

Jarod got back to work. They were running out of time.

 

 

 

The Cylons moved with machine precision into the _Aurora_ after breaching the hull. They came across a damage control party and opened fire just as the party reacted to their presence. Two of their targets fell with no life signs remaining; the others fled down the corridor. The Cylons moved ahead, not so much in pursuit but to achieve their objective: access to the ship's control bridge.

They neared the lift when the counter-attack began. Pulses of particle fire destroyed the lead Cylon utterly, leaving only a pile of half-molten scrap. The Cylons reacted by turning and firing to force their foes back into cover. There was a flare of energy ahead; their rounds were striking a personal forcefield.

Their fire redoubled. One Cylon activated its anti-personnel grenade launcher and loaded an explosive grenade.

It never got the chance to fire.

A series of objects flew ahead and into the Cylons' midst. They had never seen such objects before. Their systems did calculate the likely purpose of the items and they responded appopriately; two of the raiders jumped on them to preserve the rest of the attacking force.

The resulting explosions blew those raiders apart. It also turned their broken, shattered pieces into projectiles that battered their comrades. The Cylon team began a tactical retreat, obeying the tactical command programming to find another route that was not defended.

They fell back toward their breaching pod... and into another hail of fire. This time from even heavier weapons.

The Marine fire was precise and rapid. They were the hammer to ship security's anvil, and the effect of their firepower showed. The Cylons whipped around frantically, returning fire, but their weapons proved insufficient against the protective gear of the Marines. The two last Cylons poured enough fire into one target that they got through his shields and managed several successful hits.

This proved only a slight retribution for their destruction.

 

 

 

Meridina followed Lee through _Cloud Nine_ to the engineering decks, past signs warning about authorized personnel being required and the like.

As they approached the reactor chamber Meridina could feel an increasing sense of pain and anguish. Bewilderment, uncertainty, anger… it was all indications of a traumatized mind.

When they arrived they found one Colonial sitting against the wall. The young woman was breathing hard and clasping a wounded arm. Blood was pouring from the gunshot wound and onto the ground.

Banks of tylium-fueled reactors were arrayed across the room. Standing beside one, at a control station, was a blond-haired woman. Meridina and Lee had already seen another like her, with the Cylons at the crowd, making who she was seem obvious.

But this Cylon was different. She was the source of all the emotions Meridina had been sensing as they approached. Meridina felt deep surprise at what she was sensing. For this woman's feelings to be so strong…

"Please, do not do this," she said.

The Cylon woman looked at her. There were tears already streaming down her eyes. "Don't," she ordered, looking at Lee and his drawn gun. She opened her blouse; a belt of explosives was underneath. "I'll blow up," she threatened. "And the reactors will go."

"Why do you wish to destroy yourself?", Meridina asked. "I do not sense the same conviction in you as in the others."

"Because I don't have a choice," she said. "Because I'm _not going back_."

Meridina stared at this frightened being and wondered what she meant. That left Lee to make the connection. "You're Gina Invieve," he said

The Cylon seemed to nod a little.

"Whom is this 'Gina'?", Meridina asked Lee.

"She was a Cylon infiltrator on the _Pegasus_ ," Lee explained. "After the attack, the crew discovered who she was. They…" Lee swallowed. "Admiral Cain was out of control."

Meridina didn't need further explanation. She had known what the _Pegasus_ crew had done to Cat. With their brutal commander still alive? And the attack on their worlds fresh? Gina's suffering was evident, even if thoughts of it weren't constantly flowing from her mind to confirm all the horrid details. "You will not go back," Meridina pledged. "I will not allow you to be harmed."

"You can't stop them from hurting me," Gina said. "And you can't stop the Plan."

"What is it?", Meridina asked. "What is the Plan?"

"We're not told the full Plan, none can know it. It unfolds piece by piece, as they say God intends."

Meridina nodded. "Yes. Sharon said much the same thing." Meridina kept a serene expression on her face as she approached Gina. "I feel your fear. I understand how much you suffered. But I will protect you. Just as I acted to save Sharon and her baby."

Gina seemed more confused by this than disbelieving. "Why? After all that we've done, why?"

"Because, it is the right thing to do," Meridina answered. "Because you are a wounded soul who needs to be healed. You did not kill the people of the Colonies. Your leaders did."

"You shouldn't be here," Gina said. "You're not supposed to be out here. The cycle has to end…"

Meridina kept herself from asking about what Gina was talking about. There would be time to satisfy curiosity later. "Gina, you have suffered too much, yes. Please, let that suffering end here. Do not be the source for more. It must end.."

"Don't take another step closer," Gina insisted. " _Not one more step!_ "

Meridina nodded and stopped. She got onto her knees in a meditative position. "Very well. I shall remain here and we can talk peacefully."

Lee stared in disbelief as Meridina set her weapon to the side and looked back to Gina. "I pose you no threat, Gina Invieve. You are not at any risk by my hands. All I wish to do is talk."

 

 

 

Anders' base was now almost completely overrun. The handful of surviving fighters who hadn't been beamed up before everything went to hell were joined by their Marine rescuers in the central structure of the facility. Outside gunfire still raged from the Cylon war machines trying to mow them all down. At every possibly interval Kane and his men popped back up out of a window to pour more fire into them.

But just because they were using energy weapons didn't mean ammunition was unlimited., Several of his people were short now of the energy clips that let them fire their weapons. "Looks like they're preparing for a big push," Kane remarked while checking out side the corner of a window.

"We can't hold here," Kara noted. "We need to do something."

Anders smirked. "Well, there was my final 'Frak you!' measure."

"Oh?" Kane looked at him. "That would be?"

"We built a bomb," Anders explained. "Big enough to level the whole place. It would be our final farewell if the Cylons ever arrived to wipe us out." He frowned. "I'm not much for dying, but I had always figured that if I were going to, best to take as many of the frakkers with me as I go."

"Heh." Kane smirked. "Good thinking. Where's the bomb?"

Anders gestured to a tarp in the middle of the structure.

"Can you set it now?"

"Guess we're giving up on the rescue?", Anders asked.

"Nope." Kane looked back and smiled. "I've got a plan."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aurora and the Pegasus lead a bold mission back to the Colonies to rescue survivors; the Cylon infiltrators in the Refugee Fleet plan one last strike before they are discovered.

_Koenig_ shook once again. "Shields down to forty percent," Magda warned. "Slight damage on Deck 2 port side."

The Cylons were clearly more interested in capturing _Aurora_ than destroying her, but they weren't showing the same restraint toward _Pegasus_ or _Koenig_. Zack watched _Pegasus_ ' jury-rigged shields flare blue again as several more Cylon shots slammed into her. "Status on _Pegasus_?"

"Their shields are barely above fifty percent," Magda said.

"Right." Zack eyed the display. "Pick that Cylon on our port side. Take us in close."

"How close?", Apley asked.

""Close enough to skid the paint off if we want," Zack declared. "Sherlily, torpedoes and phasers, please. Keep them coming."

"What are you doing?", Sherlily asked. "At that range we won't be able to evade."

"Not them, no," he admitted. "But their buddies…"

Apley allowed himself a grin. "Of course. They keep shooting at us too, they'll hit their friend."

"Exactly. Take us in!"

_Koenig_ raced in toward her target. As she drew close several Cylon shots that missed them slammed into their target instead. Sherlily added to the mayhem with phasers and torpedoes. Explosions plumed from the basestar's hull at the onslaught as Apley kept them weaving around the ship's emplacements, giving Sherlily all of the time she needed to hammer the enemy ship.

Behind them several of the fighters from the _Aurora_ came soaring in to support their attack. Anti-ship missiles dropped from their hardpoints and slammed into the wounds _Koenig_ was carving into the Cylon ship.

The _coup d'grace_ was delivered by two Raptors from _Pegasus_. Apley flew them clear of the basestar just in the nick of time. The nuclear warheads in the Raptors' missiles blasted through the weakened armor of the Cylon ship and set her tylium reactors off. The entire ship blew apart.

But that was just one basestar, Nine more remained in the fight - nearly eight now, given how badly one was faring against _Pegasus_ 's guns - and _Aurora_ was still helpless before them.

 

 

 

Back on Caprica, Anders was finishing the arming fuse. "Are you sure about this?', he asked Kane.

"Damned sure!", Kane answered.

"This is Godsdamned crazy!", Kara laughed.

"Goddamned crazy is our job, Captain," Kane agreed.

Anders nodded and set the fuse. "Twenty seconds!"

"Alright everyone! Now!" Kane motioned to Rashid, who blew the south wall down and immediately opened fire. Ijala came up beside him and sent off a shot with his sniper rifle that blew the head off another Cylon machine. The Alakin sniper jumped to the next bit of cover while the other Marines behind him came up and poured fire into the enemy.

Nobody stopped for long. There was a cry of pain as rounds found Anders' leg. "Come on!", Kara shouted, and she pulled him up. Kane noted with approval that Lance Corporal Toussiers was quick to give her aid, helping Kara pull the injured Anders along with them.

The Cylons from the other angles surged toward the house and on to their rear. Which seemed bad, especially as they had yet to get clear. But that was, in truth, exactly what Kane had been counting on.

At the twenty second mark, the blast deafened them all and sent them flying. Kane scrambled back to his feet despite the disorientation of being thrown down. An inferno raged behind them, complete with bits and pieces of Cylons scattered about. "Ha! _Semper Fi_ , you toaster bastards!"

The rest of Kane's Marines got up just as the remaining Cylons ahead of them recovered from the blast. Particle fire ripped through them and finished opening the way to safety for the assembled survivors of Anders' resistance.

"Mission accomplished," Kane declared.

Now all they had to do was wait for _Aurora_ to get them out.

 

 

 

The reactor chamber's silence was thick with tension. Lee felt sweat on his brow as he waited for something, anything, to happen. Even if it was the Cylon setting off her explosive and starting a chain reaction that could destroy the ship.

The quiet tension was getting to Gina as well. "I'll kill us all," Gina insisted. "You'll die too. You'll die."

"I am ready to die," Meridina answered. "I knew the moment I took up my _lakesh_ that the Code might require my life. I chose to take up the burden anyway because some things have to be done. Evil must be confronted. What was done to you, Gina Invieve, was a terrible evil. Regardless of what your people did to the Colonials, evil cannot atone for evil. Would that I had been there, I would have raised my _lakesh_ in your defense."

"Commander…" Lee began. He was hoping she would do something more than talk; the lives of everyone on _Cloud Nine_ were at stake.

"Captain Adama, please. It must be done this way," Meridina urged.

Lee swallowed and nodded. He hated not doing anything about this situation, but he could see that the wrong move from him would cause Gina to set off the bomb and destroy the ship.

"I can sense it in you, Gina Invieve," Meridina said. "A desire to do good. To end the suffering, this cycle of hatred between the Humans here and the Cylons. But bloodshed can never end hatred. It only feeds the darkness with the fear and anger and hate that it creates. Don't give in, Gina. Please, do not give into that darkness. Choose life. For yourself and for others. There is hope for you and your kind."

Gina met Meridina's eyes for several crucial seconds. Meridina felt all of the emotions roiling up within the heart and being of Gina Invieve. Including some surprising feelings of guilt, of treachery.

_She loved Cain_ , Meridina realized. _Despite what she was doing, she fell in love._ The trauma of what Cain had allowed to be done to her had no doubt made the betrayal all the worse for her, not just Cain's betrayal of what they had, but her own betrayal.

Was she wrong to have not acted by now? There were a few ways Meridina could disable Gina, could stop her, but most were likely to be fatal. And every moment she waited, it made it less likely she would stop the Cylon woman in time.

Was she hesitating? Hesitation was not something a _swevyra'se_ was supposed to do; it weakened the use of one's _swevyra_.

But she couldn't just kill Gina. She was a victim too. A victim of leaders who had caused this horrible genocide, who had put her into that position, and exploited her loyalty.

"Have hope for the future," Meridina pleaded to her. "Follow the Light. Step away from Darkness. I implore you, see that there is worth in these people and in yourself. Breaking the cycle can begin with you. With one decision."

Gina took in several more breaths. She looked to the reactors and then back to Meridina and onward to her suicide vest.

And then Gina let out a cry of frustration and pain.

Her hand went to the belt and pulled at it. It came loose. She threw it to the floor and collapsed to her knees, weeping.

Meridina did not move quickly. She stood only long enough to move beside Gina Invieve, whom she put her arms around. "Thank you," Meridina said.

"Don't let them take me," Gina pleaded. "Not again."

"Never again," Meridina promised. "I will make sure of that." As she said this she looked back at Lee with a stern expression. It made clear she would brook no dissension on this and that was good enough for him.

"I'll go and check on how the others are doing," Lee offered.

"Thank you, Captain. I will take Ms. Invieve somewhere private." Meridina watched him go before returning her attention to the weeping woman in her arms. "It will be fine," she assured her. "You have made the right choice. And your future will reflect that choice."

 

 

 

On _Aurora_ , the ship remained mostly immobile and completely defenseless against the Cylons. Fire was pouring into their hull now, even as the auto-repair systems struggled to restore it. "I think they've given up on boarding us," Robert observed as they continued to shake. "Jarod?"

Jarod said nothing. He was too busy. With one hand he was still writing circumvention programs, trying new and more complex algorithms to override the virus' remote shutdowns of the vital systems. This proved futile; the virus adapted to each one in turn and re-asserted control over those systems. Shields, weapon aiming, helm control…

But this was now just a distraction. Jarod's real focus was what he was doing with the other hand. It was the kind of multi-tasking only he could hope to pull off.

Julia noticed something was up. "Jarod? Why are you isolating the tertiary auxiliary computer core?"

"You'll see. I'm transferring ship functions over to it now. With it isolated we'll get most of our control back and the virus won't be able to touch it." He finished his final touches on that and loaded the final programs from backup memory. A near-perfect clone of the shield and weapon control systems was now installing in the aforementioned auxiliary core. It was almost surprising how full the core was. Jarod imagined the core was storing backup data as it was, but it clearly held more data than he'd thought it did.

"I'm getting helm control back," Locarno said. And indeed in the following moments the other functionality was due to restore itself as well.

But the virus had other plans. Detecting the transfer of control, the virus reacted by beginning to transfer itself into the core with the other programs, keeping a slender thread of command open through the connection to keep its lock-down on the main core and systems.

"We've lost helm control again," Locarno reported, sounding irritated.

"Jarod…"

Jarod didn't reply to Julia. He was too busy. He had to make sure. He used his own connection into the auxiliary core to run purging programs and force the virus to rewrite its adaptations on the fly. It had to transfer its functions completely into the auxiliary core to resist the extra computing power.

All of its processes.

At confirming that, Jarod smiled. "I've got you," he muttered.

The virus had understandably locked down the connection to the auxiliary core to keep him from cutting it. He had fully anticipated that.

But what the virus didn't know, could not know, was how the cores were designed. How Jarod and Farmer and Barnes had set them up for just such cases. What he and Barnes had later done with the lessons learned from the Dalek invasion of the Facility.

Jarod reached to one corner of his panel and pressed a button. The button controlled a circuit, a manual one isolated from the software operation of many ship systems.

With the press of that button, the _physical_ connection of the auxiliary core to the others was cut completely. And with that, the virus was now trapped. Helpless inside the auxiliary core.

Jarod laughed with triumph. "I've got you. Now…" With the virus cut off, it could no longer reimpose remote lockdown on the ship systems it had secured. Jarod swiftly deployed a new set of override commands that eliminated the lockdowns and restored central system control. He tapped a key. "Engineering, this is Jarod. You've got reactor control back."

" _Aye. Restoring full power… now._ "

The emergency lights were replaced by the main lights of the bridge. "I've got helm control!", Locarno declared, smiling.

"Aiming control for weapons is back online," Angel said. "I'm raising shields!"

Just as she said that another series of nuclear-tipped missiles came in from the Cylon ships. Before these weapons had destroyed the armored hull they'd impacted, blasting away debris and threatening to irradiate people within the ship. Now they crashed almost harmlessly into the raised deflector shields of the _Aurora_.

Robert felt a rush of excitement. "Well done, Jarod," he said, unable to keep from smiling. "Lieutenant Delgado, please let those Cylons have it."

"With _pleasure_ ," Angela purred. A feral grin was already crossing her face; she had felt her own frustrations at their evident helplessness, and now she could give vent to them.

_Aurora_ 's main battery opened up a second later, directed at the nearest Cylon ship on her bow. Bursts of sapphire energy slammed into the unshielded Basestar and nearly blew it in half. A follow up barrage of phaser fire from the bow-facing strips completed the job. The Cylon ship was torn apart in an explosion.

_Aurora_ surged forward, her shields at full and her weapons blazing. Her forward cannons again found a victim to rip into while on both port and starboard sides her phasers were blazing away. Solar torpedoes erupted from her launchers and wrecked another Cylon basestar scourged by the barrage of phaser fire. Robert watched with satisfaction as _Aurora_ set into her tormentors like a bear freed from its cage.

"Shields still holding at ninety percent," Jarod remarked upon a series of impacts. "They're throwing everything they have at us and they can't make a dent."

Robert nodded. "Maintain firing until they withdraw, Angel."

"You're assuming I let them withdraw," Angel said.

Robert exchanged grins with Julia while Angel and Nick continued to assault the Cylons. But as he observed this sight, a prickly feeling came to Robert. A sense almost of _deja vu_. _I've… seen this before, haven't it?_ ", he asked himself.

He closed his eyes and focused. Yes. Yes, he had seen this before. He'd seen _Aurora_ tearing into ships like this. In his dreams.

Suddenly he found he could barely keep up the smile. _One of my dreams… it came true_ , he pondered. He thought back to things Meridina had said, about sensing the future, and felt dread build up.

This might be a victory, but not all of his dreams were so appealing. Visions of Nazi warships setting New Liberty ablaze, of Nazis murdering his cousin Beth and countless other colonists he knew on that world, came to him. A new sense of horror filled Robert that even the victory here could not get rid of.

There was a flash of light. "That last Cylon ship just made a jump," Caterina said,. "There's no way for me to track where they went."

"Let them run," Robert said. "We've had enough fighting for today." He nodded to Jarod, who re-established the communication line to the other ships. " _Aurora_ to _Pegasus_. Thanks for the assistance, Admiral."

" _It appears your crew had things well in hand,_ " Adama noted. " _Did you manage to purge the Cylon virus?_ "

Robert looked to Jarod. "I've contained it in an auxiliary computer core for the moment," Jarod answered, knowing Adama could hear him. "Although I'm also going to spend a few days fixing up our main computer systems. They're a mess of override programs and access workarounds right now."

" _Can you jump?_ "

"Before we do, I think Scotty and I need to take a look over those jump engines," Jarod replied. "Just in case there are any more surprises."

" _Understood. We'll finish the evacuation of Caprica in the meantime. Adama out._ "

Jarod stood up. "Sir?"

"Go ahead, Jarod," Robert said. "Go help Scotty make sure this thing isn't going to screw us over again." He forced himself to smile again, for Jarod's sake. "And Jarod? That was magnificent. You did good."

Jarod nodded. "Thanks… Robert." He gave a nod and smile of his own and headed to the turbolift doors while an Ensign at the secondary tactical station shifted over to assume Ops for the time being.

Once in the turbolift, Jarod drew in a breath and sighed. That had been so close. Far too close.

But he'd done it. He'd won, and saved all of their lives in the process. He'd outsmarted that damn Cylon thing.

_Their technology in starships might have some inferiority to ours, but their computer programming is impossibly good_ , Jarod pondered to himself. _That wasn't just a virus, that was an AI._ But there would be time to consider that more thoroughly later. They had to check that jump drive over thoroughly, and quickly, so they could get back to the Refugee fleet and be assured the virus didn't have a copy waiting to surprise them.

 

 

 

Kane, Kara, and the others ended up being beamed up to _Pegasus_ , where the medical staff quickly helped deal with the injuries among Anders and his people. Kane and Kara reported to the CIC to report their success. Kane saluted Adama smartly. "Admiral, our operation was a complete success."

"So I've heard." Adama turned and faced them. "And the _Aurora_ is clear of any further Cylon virus issues."

"What happened over there?", Kara asked.

"Apparently that Cylon drive we cobbled together had a hidden data module in its machinery," Adama said. "Once the Cylons knew the _Aurora_ was in orbit they sent a remote activation code to the module to deploy its virus."

"So everything should be good now?", Kane asked.

"I'm told Mister Jarod and Mister Scott have already purged the data module of any copies of the virus," Adama said. "They should be ready for jump shortly. Captain Kane, I'll have you returned to your ship with your Marines immediately."

"Of course, sir."

Once Kane was gone Adama and Kara exchanged looks. "Well." Adama's voice was sounding growlier than he seemed to actually be. "Looks like your rescue mission was a bit more exciting than you'd intended, Captain Thrace," he remarked.

"Indeed, sir." Kara nodded. And she smiled too. "But we got what we came for."

"That we did," Adama agreed. He looked back to the DRADIS screen. "Hard to believe how things have changed so much already now that we've met these Alliance people. I just took _Pegasus_ up against 10 to 1 odds and won.  We were holding our own even before the _Aurora_ came back online."

"They're great people, sir," Kara agreed. "Thanks to them, we just rescued thousands of our own from whatever the Cylons had in mind for them."

"A shame that they'll be going home soon," Adama said. "I wouldn't mind having them accompany the fleet on our way to their space."

"You could always ask them about the idea, sir?", Kara pointed out.

"I already intend to. In the meantime, why don't you go get some rest? Check up on your friends from that resistance force." He looked back to her. "You're dismissed, Captain."

"Before I go, sir?" Kara remained standing there. "That Cylon. He's a priest back on the Fleet. Brother Cavil."

"So I heard," Adama answered. "I'll inform Roslin as soon as I can."

At that Kara nodded and walked off, leaving Adama to his thoughts.

 

 

 

Roslin listened patiently as Lee finished his explanation of what had happened and what was going on. "Only thirty dead," she breathed. "Thank the Gods. I hate to say that, but given what they might have done…"

"We'd all be dead if not for Meridina," Lee answered.

"So you've said." Roslin put a hand on her chin. "And the Cylon she stopped in the reactor deck?"

"They're in a private suite I arranged. Under armed guard," Lee answered. "We'll see what happens when the expedition gets back."

"Yes." Roslin accepted water from Billy to quench the slight thirst in her throat. A bandage from the medics on _Cloud Nine_ was handling the bruise on her arm from where Meridina had knocked her over to save her life. "At least they came through alright. I was worried that I was letting the Admiral and Captain Dale take too much of a risk..."

"It was a necessary one."

That prompted a nod. "I agree." Roslin took another sip and returned the cup to Billy. "Well… I suppose that's enough said. Now, we should probably talk about the housing issue…"

 

 

 

_Ship's Log: 13 June 2641; ASV Aurora. Captain Robert Dale recording. The Rescue Fleet has made its rendezvous with the Refugee Task Force unit as scheduled. It is my pleasure to announce that altogether we rescued over eight thousand people from the remaining twelve colonies. It was, perhaps, not as much as was hoped for. But for those eight thousand people, and for the Fleet as a whole, it's still a great boost to morale._

_The Cylon virus' ability to attack our systems has been a puzzling development. How did they get such a capability to adapt their virus so quickly to our Darglan-based computer technology? This is a mystery I will leave it to Commander Jarod and Lieutenant Delgado to solve whenever they can.  
_

_On a final note, Commander Meridina returned to the ship with a story of her own to tell and, unexpectedly, another Cylon refugee seeking asylum in the Alliance._

Robert and Meridina stood in the medbay watching Leo and Nasri give an examination to Gina Invieve.

"She has suffered terribly," Meridina remarked. "It would appear Caterina and Lucy were most fortunate in their own dealings with the _Pegasus_ crew."

Robert sighed and shook his head. "It makes me think. About..."

"About what?"

"The human condition," Robert answered. "We can do such great things and turn around and be utterly despicable."

"Such is the way with all sentient life," Meridina replied. "All are open to the allure of darkness, just as all are capable of following the course of Light." A worried look came to her face. "Robert, I sense great anxiety in you. I do not think you should feel that way about this mission, it was quite the success."

"It's not the mission, it's…" Robert swallowed and sighed. "After we got the systems back and Angel went to town on the Cylons, I realized that… I was feeling _deja vu_. That I had seen this happening already, seen our ship rip through the Cylons' forces."

Meridina appraised him carefully. "Truly?"

"Yes I saw it in one of those dreams I told you about." He looked into her eyes. "Does this mean my dreams are going to come true? That I can actually…"

"It simply means this particular one was the path the future was on," Meridina assured him. "Do not let it worry you, Captain."

Robert nodded. He wasn't entirely convinced of that, but he knew he should let it rest.

Besides, sometimes things more ominous and frustrating and annoying than visions of the future were at hand.

Things like paperwork.

 

 

 

Lucy was the last to arrive in the tertiary auxiliary computer core chamber. Contained on Decks 15 and 16, the two deck-high chamber held the centralized core structure that contained the hardware of memory and processors for the tertiary core, providing the ship with emergency extra processing power and memory in the event of an emergency.

Jarod and Cat were already present at the controls for the core. Nearby was a blackened spot that separated two sections of wiring. This would have been where the emergency physical isolation circuit had been placed, made to burn out the wiring completely and cut the physical connection of the auxiliary core to the main computers. That was how Jarod had saved the ship.

"You're just in time," Cat said to her. She looked up from where she was sitting by Jarod. "We're just about to examine the core."

"Examine… oh." Lucy nodded. "You're going to examine the virus in its isolated state before you wipe the core."

"That's the plan," Jarod said. "With a sample of the virus we'll be able to understand more about how the Cylons'' coding could attack our systems."

"Sounds like a worthwhile cause," Lucy agreed. She pulled up a chair. "I'll monitor the core from here and make sure the virus doesn't try anything nasty."

"That works. Okay… initiating search now… It might take a few minutes, there's a lot of corrupted data from my bait."

"I've got the time," Lucy answered.

"Really?" Cat blinked. "Because between your actual shifts and all that weird mystic stuff Meridina's having you do, I didn't think you had a lot of time for yourself."

"I get enough," Lucy answered.

"Oh. Well, that's good. I guess." Cat looked back to her screen. She gave a puzzled look at it. "Jarod, are you seeing this?"

"That depends," Jarod began. "What is it?"

"I… I'm not finding any trace of the virus in the core," she answered. "Or anything from your bait either. It's like someone wiped the whole core."

Jarod brought up his own screen. "Huh," he said. "You're right. The virus' coding has been deleted. It's just a bunch of inert data in the system now."

"So you're saying something made the virus inert?", Lucky asked.

"Yeah. I mean, the basic coding is still there. But all of the executable elements have been removed. Like someone ran a program specifically to shred the command elements of the virus."

"What… how could it do that? We didn't have any protective software in our auxiliary core, did we?" Cat asked.

Jarod shook his head. "Nothing in here but some backup data for the main systems."

"Maybe the Cylons' viruses are programmed to go inert after a while?" Lucy said. "So nobody can recover them and examine them?"

"No," Jarod answered. "This isn't right for that. Too much of the code is intact. I could use this, right now, to write sniffer programs and security gates to specifically thwart this virus. Whatever this is, it isn't to protect the virus from being examined and countered."

"Damned peculiar then," Lucy agreed.

"Well, the important thing is that the computer systems are okay," Cat said. "We'll get the connection re-established soon and everything will be back to normal." She gave Jarod a look and a smile. It was one he returned with sunny enthusiasm.

"Well, you're a bit sunnier than you've been lately," Lucy commented. "Something new?"

"You could say that," Jarod answered. "Everything is fine now." Jarod started tapping keys. "Let's go ahead and set up a firewall around this virus, we can transfer it to an isolated system for for further study."

"I'm on it."

"Same here."

 

 

 

Sharon and Helo had spent the crisis helping where they could. This had primarily meant seeing to the refugees transported up from the Colonies. Now that those people had been moved over to the Colonial Refugee Fleet, they had the stateroom Commander Andreys assigned to them to themselves.

Helo was busy looking out of the stateroom's window toward the fleet. _Galactica_ loomed closely in the view. "I feel a little odd,' he admitted. "It seems like I had just gotten back. And now I'm leaving again. Probably for good."

Sharon stepped up beside him and took his hand. Her other hand settled on her belly. "I understand," she admitted.

"Same for you, right." It wasn't a question. They were both well aware that they had become exiles. "What do you think about that New Liberty Colony that Commander Andreys and Doctor Gillam talked about?"

Sharon smiled gently. "I think it's a great place to find a fresh start. But there are plenty of worlds. I don't think we're in a hurry."

"No. We're not," Helo agreed. He turned and faced her. "I'm just happy that after everything's that happened, you're finally free. And we're together."

"Sometimes I wonder if it's just a dream." Sharon smiled back at him. "If so, I never want to wake up."

They didn't say anything after that. They shared a kiss instead.

Just after the kiss ended there was a tone at their door. "Come in," Sharon called out.

The door swished open and Commander Meridina stepped in. "Helo, Sharon." She bowed her head and received a similar gesture in return. "I don't wish to intrude, but would you mind giving me assistance with something?"

"Anything," Sharon answered.

Meridina stepped to one side. The two watched as a Gina Invieve stepped in, head bowed. "She is in need of help," Meridina said. "Someone willing to show understanding. I thought you two might wish to provide it."

Helo and Sharon exchanged looks. Those looks turned into nods. "Yes," Helo said. "Of course."

Meridina smiled and nodded. "Thank you." She turned and looked at Gina. "Whatever your life was before, whatever you did or what was done to you, that is over. Here you are among friends. People who will care about you as a person."

Gina nodded. "I'm grateful," she said. "I just want to put the past behind me."

"Yes. It is best for your heart and soul. My apologies,but I have some final duties to attend to."

With that spoken, Meridina left the traumatized Cylon woman to the care of her peer and Helo. Meridina suspected there were none better-suited to helping the poor woman.

 

 

 

Zack had just finished securing the _Koenig_ when he got the call to Robert's ready room. He made his way via the turbolifts to the bridge. Julia stood up from the command chair. "Thanks for watching our back out there, Zack," she said.

He allowed himself a smile and nodded. "You're welcome, Julia." He swallowed. "Despite… everything, how I feel, how you feel…. you only ever have to ask and I'll help any of you in any way I can. I won't let… my issues come between me and my friends."

"I know." Julia thought on it and decided she could risk a friendly hug. Zack accepted it in the spirit given. "Somewhere out there is someone for you, Zack," Julia assured him. "It might not be me. But she's out there."

"Maybe," he murmured back. "But for right now, I just want to get on with my life."

They parted ways. Zack nodded to Barnes, who had an apprehensive look on his face. Zack understood how upset his friend had to be.  He might be Robert's best friend for the most part, but but he was definitely Barnes' best friend, full stop. And now he was leaving him behind.

_Sorry, Tom. It's something I have to do._.

Zack stepped into Robert's office. Robert was consulting the holo-display image of Admiral Maran over subspace. Telltale crackles told of how the signal was not quite real-time, taking several seconds to pass via subspace between _Aurora_ and the IU transceivers that connected them to Portland.

But what Zack hadn't expected was to see Adama present as well, standing to the side.

" _Ah, Commander Carrey_." Maran nodded. " _Good to see you. You came just at the right time._ "

That made Zack curious. "Sir?"

" _Captain Dale informed me of your transfer request_ ," Maran said. " _I believe you are looking for some time to operate independently?_ "

"I am, sir."

" _Well, as I told you and your friends some time ago, these sorts of things can become permanent. And no assignment is truly independent._ " Maran folded his hands. " _However, I believe I have an assignment that fits your desires without leaving you prospects of being shut off from a return to_ Aurora _in the future._ "

"Sir?" Zack asked.

"Commander Carrey." Adama was speaking now. "I've requested that the Alliance provide the Fleet with assistance for our journey toward Alliance space.  I would have preferred it being the _Aurora_ , but I'm told they're needed elsewhere."

Robert nodded to second that.

Zack put two and two together. "You want me. Me and my crew."

Adama nodded as well. "Correct. I'd like _Koenig_ to join us as a scout for the Fleet. And a little extra firepower wouldn't hurt just in case the Cylons start pursuing us again."

Zack looked to Maran. "So you're assigning me to join the Colonial Fleet?"

" _For the time being, yes,_ " Maran answered. " _Until they reach Alliance space._ "

Zack looked to Robert, who grinned slightly. Zack returned it. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, my crew and I would love to do that. But how are we going to work out the FTL drive issues?"

"I've got an engineering team working with _Aurora_ 's machinery shops to build a jump drive big enough for the _Koenig_ ," Adama answered. "They tell me they're already in the process of assembling it."

"And you won't even need to spend hours changing systems around," Robert added. "Maybe half an hour to swap drive systems, at most."

Zack nodded. "Well… that's just… that's awesome, yeah." Zack nodded to Maran. "Thank you, Admiral. This is the sort of assignment I was looking for.'

" _I expected as much, Commander._ "

Zack looked to Adama, who quietly extended his hand. Zack took it immediately. "It'll be a pleasure to work for you, Admiral Adama," he said.

"Likewise," Adama agreed.

 

 

 

The debriefing was held on _Aurora_. Roslin and her aide had brought the entire Quorum this time, with Lee accompanying them from _Cloud Nine_ while Adama, Thrace, and Fisk arrived from _Pegasus_. This time Roslin had insisted on waiving the ceremony and Robert had (gratefully) agreed.

The debriefing went smoothly. More than smoothly. The rescue fleet had accomplished all that it could have reasonably hoped to. The further destruction of nine Cylon Basestars, combined with the casualties inflicted earlier in the week, would make the Cylons take a pause in threatening the Fleet any further. The eight thousand survivors were being distributed among the fleet. Space would be a bit tighter now, but it wouldn't be a problem for the ships, especially with the one gained at Picon.

"You've all done so well," Roslin said to the assembled officers of the various ships. "Eight thousand of our people rescued from Cylon hands. And these new technological gifts to help us feed and sustain ourselves for the remaining flight to your space. I couldn't ask for better allies.":

Robert responded quickly. "We're honored to have aided you, ma'am."

"On behalf of the Colonies, I thank you for your bravery and service." Roslin's expression turned somber. "And our condolences go out to those of your crew who perished in this operation. They will be remembered as heroes of the Colonies."

Robert rose. "Thank you, Madame President, for your kind words and the sentiments toward our fallen crewmates. My crew and I are proud to have helped rescue so many of your people. Just as we're proud to have established positive relations with your people, as we were sent out to do." Robert allowed himself a smile. "I'd also like to state that Admiral Maran has confirmed that a convoy of ships is being prepared to meet with the fleet and escort it into Alliance space, if that is your desire."

"It is," Roslin said. She looked to the others, who nodded. "The Quorum has agreed to a motion made by myself and Representative Zarek. We will seek sanctuary in the territory of the United Alliance of Systems. We're still determining which of your offered worlds we will accept. Honestly I suspect that this decision will not be settled until our forthcoming elections. But we will be on our way."

"I'm glad to hear it. I think that the Colonies will be at home in the Alliance. Our societies have much to offer to each other."

"Will the _Aurora_ be accompanying us into your space?" Baltar asked.

Robert shook his head. "I'm afraid that we have been called back. There is still some battle damage the _Aurora_ will require yard work to fix and my government believes we're needed elsewhere." Realizing how that might sound, Robert added, "Instead, we are leaving Commander Carrey and the _Koenig_ to join the fleet." Robert looked to Zack, who nodded and grinned. "Commander Carrey has been looking forward to independent operations for himself and his crew. Working with your fleet as a scout was something Admiral Adama and I felt was a perfect fit."

"I'm looking forward to working with the Colonial Fleet on its way to Alliance space," Zack added. "My crew and I will be glad to help your people in any way required."

"I think the crew of the _Faru Sadin_ is well aware of that commitment," Roslin answered, smiling. "You and your crew will be welcome with the Fleet, Commander, as if you were our own."

"You will be our own," Adama added. "As far as I am concerned, _Koenig_ and her crew are a part of the Fleet and will be given the same treatment I would give to any of my other subordinates."

"I'm honored, Madame President, Admiral."

After Zack sat down Robert said, "It may be some time before we see you again. But I'd like to express my best wishes for the rest of your journey. I look forward to hearing about your arrival at your new home, whichever world you choose."

There were a number of nods of agreement at that.

 

 

 

When Baltar got back to his lab, he took a seat and breathed a sigh of relief. "They're not staying," he said. " _She_ is not staying."

His Head Cylon appeared beside him, slinky red dress and all. "Yes," she purred. "That is good."

"You never told me why you wanted Commander Meridina dead," Baltar said.

"Because, Gaius… she is the Enemy." His Head Cylon appraised him like she was wont to do sometimes, when it seemed like she wasn't sure if she wanted to punish him or not. "But I understand your reasons for letting her live."

"It wasn't my choice!" Baltar protested. "There was not a single thing I could do to justify harming her after D'anna Biers tried to kill her."

"Our chance will come. One day." The Cylon spirit thing, whatever it was, smiled at him. "Now. The election."

"Yes." Baltar felt spite well up within him. Roslin's letter to him, her presumed final words after her death and his succession, had been a slap in the face. A preachy, sanctimonious prattling by a jumped up schoolteacher. And he wasn't going to take that lying down. "I'm running," he said.

"Against Roslin."

"Yes, against her." As he said that he knew it would be hard. Roslin's popularity was going to soar over these past events. A bitter irony given how close she had come to spurning their new allies, just to get the credit for making them allies. "I'm going to put Roslin in her place. I'm going to become President of the Colonies."

"Good. God is with you on this, Gaius." The Cylon leaned in close to him. Baltar could swear he could feel her breath on his neck in a sensual, arousing way. "All is going according to God's Plan..."

 

 

 

Across a space of thousands of light years, a number of figures gathered around a central location. Eleven in all.

Chief among them, the First began speaking. "Things will still progress according to the Plan," he assured his brethren.

The Third looked at him with narrowed eyes. "I am not so sure. We did not anticipate contact happening so quickly."

"We were supposed to keep any Colonials who fled from approaching the others," the Seventh added. "This failure may cost us everything."

"Do not be alarmed, my brethren," the First insisted. "Again, this changes nothing. A handful of remnant Humans will not change the fate of our enemies. Their doom will come in due time."

"And the Alliance?", the Eighth said. "They will interfere."

"They will have other concerns. As we have known. As we have foreseen."

"You underestimate them," the Second said. "Just as you underestimated the Gersallians before. The Enemy's order of knights are powerful. We must avoid conflict with them."

The First snarled at him. The failure of the plot to turn the aliens against each other did rankle, yes. What should have been a savage religious war was defused by those same damnable meddlers. "Thanks to the action of our Third and Fourth, we now have our own weapon to turn on the Enemy should they interfere further," he said. He looked off into the shadows. "Come."

A lone figure joined them. Hands of light bronze reached up and pulled down the hood of her robes. The face they all saw was that of a young Human woman. Her dark hair was naturally curled toward the ends. Her eyes were blue in color.

"Greetings to the Twelfth of our kind," Cavil said "Please, demonstrate the talents."

The Twelfth nodded. "By your command." She turned to the others and reached out to the Seventh. He started to gasp for air. The rest watched in stunned silence as the Seventh fell to his knees, choking and clawing at the air between him and the Twelfth. She showed no immediate emotion but her satisfaction was evident.

And everyone noticed how her blue eyes turned into an unnatural gold.

The First waited until the Seventh was facing severe damage before he announced, "Enough."

At the First's command the Twelfth pulled her hand back. The Seventh sucked in air greedily.

"We can now face the Enemy on even terms," the First said. "Twelve will provide us with the finest of our infiltrators. Once the proper training is completed, of course."

The others nodded in agreement. They had been suitable cowed by the newest demonstration of the First's power.

"Let the Humans run," the First continued. "Let them scurry into the arms of the Alliance. Their fate is still sealed. God has spoken. The Plan will succeed. The Enemy will be destroyed."

" _God has spoken. The Plan will succeed. The Enemy will be destroyed._ "

The twelve continued the chant until the meeting broke up. The First looked to the Twelfth. "I am pleased," he said. "You have done well."

The Twelfth nodded in gratitude for his thanks and departed as well. The First was left to consider their plans.

Soon. Soon they would find the Gift. They would have the power to destroy the Humans, to destroy the Enemy, and to rule as they were meant to.

God's will would be done.

 

 

 

Zack was the last of his crew to get their things off the _Aurora_. Not from any desire not to leave, simply because he had arrangements to make with the rest of his stuff.

Which was why Robert was in the room with him helping him pack up the last few pieces. "Beth's got a storage locker lined up and ready," he said to Zack. He held up a picture of Zack with family members when he was younger. "A shame _Koenig_ doesn't have room for all of this."

"Well, you know, she's not built for it," Zack pointed out.

"Yeah." Robert shook his head. "Zack, I'm sorry."

Zack finished putting his baseball mitt into his duffel bag. He turned and gave Robert a confused look. "What?"

"I'm sorry that I haven't been able to help you deal with… things," Robert continued. "I'm sorry that I let things get so… distant when it came to us. So distant you feel like you need to leave."

Zack sighed and shook his head. "It's not like that, Rob. I… honestly it's not too much distance that became the problem. It was the lack of it." Zack set the duffel bag down on the table. "Listen, things got heated over that LA33 disaster. Yeah. You've made mistakes and I've made mistakes. I just did whatever I had to, you know?"

"All we can do sometimes," Robert pointed out.

"Exactly. But when the day's over, Rob, you're still my best friend." Zack chuckled. "Hell, we've been friends since we were what, five years old?"

"A couple months after I turned five," Robert answered.

"Yeah. I mean, the only person your age who has known you longer is Julia," Zack pointed out. "I'm not going to give up on twenty years of friendship, man. I just got frustrated, that's all."

"Yeah." Robert tried to think of what to say. A part of him wanted to talk Zack into not going through with this. Into letting him find someone else. No matter how late it was.

But he couldn't. He knew Zack felt this separation necessary. Whatever risks it posed. And since Robert had been the one to get him pulled into this life, who was he to deny Zack the room to fully grow into it?

_Maybe serving with Adama will be good for him. Adama's got the experience to help him deal with things._

Zack remained silent for the moment. "So." He checked his multi-device. "It's about time, I guess.

"Yeah." Robert sighed. "It is. I'll walk you to _Koenig_."

They remained quiet on the walk there. When they got to the corridor leading to the airlock, they were no longer alone. The rest of the _Aurora_ crew turned out. Leo came up to Zack first and gave him a supportive pat on the shoulder. "Good luck, Zack," he said. "Keep in touch."

"I will, Leo."

From Angel it was a handshake. "Take care of yourself out there, Zack.," she said.

"I'll do my best," he promised.

"Good. Because if something happens you, Cat will cry." Angel gave him a mock glare. "And I'll have to hurt you then."

"See, you do love me… for given values of love." Zack chuckled and moved onto Caterina who, enthusiastically, put her arms around him in a hug. "Woh. Hey… Cat? Have you been eating a lot of protein? I think you're going to crack ribs soon."

"I'm going to miss you," Cat said. "I wish you weren't going."

"Aw, Cat, don't worry. I'll be back before you know it," Zack said. "Now… about those ribs…"

Cat let go of him. Scott gave him a smile and a handshake. "Good luck, lad. I'll look forward tae hearin' any stories ye've got when ye're back home where ye belong."

"Thanks, Scotty. Take care of things while I'm gone, alright?

"As if ye have to ask, lad."

Jarod gave him a handshake. Nicholas Locarno did as well, wishing him luck. While accepting a hug from Lucy Zack realized someone was missing.

Julia stepped up and gave him a hug. "You okay?", she asked.

"Where's Tom?", Zack inquired, seeing a distinct lack of Barnes in the group. "I know he's upset, but…"

"A moment." Julia considered him and gave him another hug. "Be careful out there, Zack. We're going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too," he answered, patting her on the back as briefly as he could.

When the hug ended attention turned to the end of the hall. Barnes was standing there in his uniform, with tool belt on, and a duffel bag on his shoulder too.

"Tom?", Cat asked, confused.

"I'm going," Barnes said.

Zack looked at him. "What?"

"I said I'm going with you," Barnes repeated. "Karen's going to have her hands full overseeing the modifications to the Colonial ships and stuff. You're going to need an extra set of hands in engineering. And I know _Koenig_ just as well as she does."

"The paperwork's already signed," Julia said. "The temporary assignment has been logged."

Zack looked back to Tom and sighed. But he couldn't keep the grin off his face. He gave Barnes an affectionate, friendly smack on the shoulder. "Coming along, eh? Mister Scott, are you sure you'll be fine without Tom to keep things in order?"

"I'm sure I can manage," Scott answered, grinning knowingly. "Best if you bring your friend along. I cannae have th' lad frettin' about ye bein' gone th' entire time, now can I?"

As Caterina gave Barnes a hug, everyone had a moment to reflect on just what this meant. Barnes was going to stay with the Fleet, with the people who had shot him just over a week ago, simply because he wanted his friend to have a buddy along.

Zack understood that too. He had to concentrate to keep any tears from forming

"I hope I am not too late." Meridina stepped up and grinned at them. "I wanted to see you both off as well."

"Not too late at all," Zack said. He offered her a hand. She took it and gave Zack the handshake. "Please, keep them safe."

"I will. I promise you." Meridina and Barnes shook hands. Afterward she stepped back and nodded her head in a goodbye gesture. " _Mi rake sa swevyra iso_ , Zachary Carrey, Thomas Barnes."

Zack returned the nod. " _Mi rake sa swevyra iso_ , Meridina."

Meridina's eyebrows went up. "You've learned the proper pronunciation." She looked to Lucy with some humor. "Hopefully Lucy will learn it as well as you have."

Lucy chuckled at that. Her blue eyes glinted with amusement and a bit of mischief. "Well, I was starting to think of it as a fun way to tease Meridina after a particularly hard training session."

Meridina gave her a bemused look. "It appears I may have to make things yet harder for you then."

That earned her a playful glare from those same blue eyes.

To that exchange, Zack took a moment to respond. "I had some down time to look the pronunciation up, actually." He stepped up to the airlock with Barnes behind him. "Alright everyone." Zack turned back to them and waved. "Be careful, stay safe, don't be strangers... and Rob, if you dump Angel again you'll have earned every bruise."

"Yes," Angel said, smirking, "he _will_." She gave him a knowing look that made Robert blush and caused the others to chuckle and giggle at his expense.

After another moment Robert recovered from that. "Good luck out there." He gave Zack a meaningful look. "Come back to us when you're ready."

Zack nodded back. "Yeah. We will."

" _Adios, compadres_!", Barnes called out.

Everyone remained and watched as the two entered _Koenig_ 's airlock. "Well." Robert sighed. "It's time for us to depart too."

They left for the bridge.

 

 

 

**Tag**

Everyone took their normal places upon the return to the bridge, save the conspicuous absence of Barnes from the Engineering station. Lucy had taken it instead. She brushed a lock of her curly dark hair out of her eyes and focused on her screens.

" _Koenig_ is ready to launch," Jarod reported.

Robert nodded and restrained a desire to sigh. "Alright. Let her go."

"Completing launch procedures now. "

They watched on the screen as _Koenig_ pulled out of the launch bay and moved over to a new position by _Galactica_. A light appeared on Jarod's board. "Hail from _Galactica._ "

"Put them on."

It was audio only, as usual. "Aurora _, this is Admiral Adama._ "

"We read you, Admiral."

" _This meeting has been a turning point for our people. I hope to see you again some time. May the Gods, or whomever is out there, watch over you._ "

"Godspeed, Admiral Adama," Robert answered. "Godspeed to all of us."

" _Farewell, Captain Dale. Adama out._ "

"Well." Julia settled completely into her seat. "This was quite the first contact mission."

"Yes it was," Robert agreed. "So… Jarod, you were saying about that jump drive?"

"We removed the data module from it," Jarod answered. "But the entire thing was never meant to be used constantly and our return trip left some of the components nearly burnt out."

Julia spoke up next. "Were there any problems hooking the warp drive back up?"

"None at all. Scotty thinks we need to take it easy on the way back, though. He recommended no higher than Warp 9."

"That'll add a couple of days to our trip back," Robert noted.

"Best not to wait around, then," Locarno operated his board. "Laying in course to Gersal, Warp 9."

Robert and the others waited for Locarno to finish that task. The Refugee Fleet covered the holo-screen. Almost 60,000 souls, huddled together in a ramshackle fleet. The few survivors of billions of slaughtered people and all that was left of a unique Human civilization. Robert pondered on how much things had changed for these people since they had met them. The Colonials had been given the one thing that made their situation tolerable.

Hope.

Despite everything that had happened, he and his friends had given these poor people hope that they had a future beyond fleeing the Cylons.

"So." Julia was clearly thinking out loud. "How much do you think Hawthorne and Davies will protest all of the risks we took on this mission? And our decisions?"

"They can try," Robert answered. "But we can show that whatever risks we took, they were necessary. And that the outcome was better for them."

"Course laid in."

"Alright, Mister Locarno." Robert nodded. "Take us out."

The _Starship Aurora_ accelerated past the Refugee Fleet and turned. On a number of the ships curious Colonials watched with awe and joy as the large starship pulled away, becoming ever smaller against the backdrop of space. The warp nacelles lit up with bright blue light for a moment, after which the _Aurora_ surged forward at warp speed on her way home.

 

 

 

Adama watched _Aurora_ disappear from the DRADIS scopes. "There they go," Tigh said. "Hope they stay safe out there."

"I thought you didn't care much for them, Saul?" Adama asked.

"Well, they're rough around the edges. Need some discipline." Tigh smirked. "But, hell, they were a good enough sort. They gave us a lot of help right when we needed."

"They still are," Adama noted, looking at the DRADIS signature for _Koenig_. Commander Carrey's ship had taken up its new position ahead of _Galactica_. "Lieutenant Duala. Put me on with the rest of the Fleet. I want to make a quick address."

Duala blinked at that. It was quite the request; it would require each ship putting Adama on their internal PA systems. "Yes sir. I'm patching you to the other ships." Duala keyed the necessary channels and opened the necessary bandwidths to carry the signal. "Admiral Adama wishes to address the people of the Fleet. Please open this channel to ship PA systems."

After about twenty seconds Duala looked up. "You're on, Admiral."

Adama nodded. "This is Admiral William Adama addressing the people of the Fleet. A lot has happened in these past two weeks. We have met new allies of incredible capability, but most importantly, of incredible charity. Thanks to the help of Captain Dale and his crew we are better prepared to defend ourselves from the Cylons than we've been ever been. And we now count another eight thousand of our own among us again. We are now setting course for Alliance space. Earth is there. We can't move in just yet, but it's there. As are so many other Earths over the Multiverse we've been introduced to."

"But we're not going alone. The Alliance has pledged its aid to us. We are already due to meet with a convoy in some time that will provide us with material aid and protection. Until we meet that convoy, however, we have not been left alone by our new friends. It is with great pleasure that I welcome Commander Zachary Carrey and the crew of the _Koenig_ to the ranks of this Fleet. You may have heard of these people. They risked their own destruction to save the _Faru Sadin_ from a Cylon nuclear attack. They helped us get thousands of our people out of the occupied Colonies. And now they are staying behind with us, to help protect the Fleet until we get to the safety of Alliance territory."

Adama let that last point sink in for a moment before continuing. "It is my hope and expectation that from this point onward, Commander Carrey and his crew will be treated like any other part of this Fleet. They will be shown all of the courtesies you would show to any member of the Colonial Navy." He gave a look to the rest of his crew in the CIC, who all looked on with support. So he finished with, "So say we all."

" _So say we all._ ," the CIC crew echoed. The speakers echoed with more repeats of the same line as other ships in the Fleet echoed Adama's words.

 

 

 

Adama's address had been heard on _Koenig_ as well. Zack nodded to Magda. She put him on as the final echoes were carrying, allowing him to add his own "So say we all" to the chorus.

" _Thank you for your support. Adama out._ "

Once the line was cut, Sherlily remarked, "Always good to be appreciated."

Zack smirked at that. He looked over to where Barnes was sitting at the engineering station for the bridge. "Settling in?"

"Sure," he said. "Although it's a bit redundant up here compared to the _Aurora_."

"Well, Karen's going to start making the rounds of their ships to set up shields and all sorts of stuff, you'll be getting plenty of time down in Engineering."

"I just wouldn't recommend changing too much," Apley added. "Karen has her own system in place."

"Yeah, I understand that," Barnes said. "So, ready to give this new jump drive a spin?"

"As soon as Adama signals our course."

"We're receiving that now," Magda said. " _Galactica_ is signalling the fleet to prepare for a jump."

"It's a shame we don't have _Aurora_ 's processing power," Barnes sighed. "We're months away from the Dorei frontier at the rate these ships can jump."

"Ah, it's no big deal," Zack answered. "Think of it as a chance to get away, Tom. Spread our wings a bit."

"Yeah, sure. Until some Cylon starts shooting our ass up."

"Don't worry, Lieutenant," Sherlily said. "I'll return the favor."

"Jump set in," Apley said. "We're ready."

"Jump when we get the go signal."

"Right. Five, four, three, two…. one."

With a press of a key, Apley jumped the _Koenig_ in time with the rest of the Refugee Fleet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a year since I finished this, but I feel I forgot to remark on what seems to be a logic flaw. Namely, why the Aurora didn't stick around for another jump or two to help them calculate longer jumps to cut their voyage down.
> 
> The Doylist answer is obvious: I want to actually have the Koenig spend months working with the Fleet.
> 
> The Watsonian answer is that the more ships you're calculating jumps for, the more complex the required calculations, on a logarithmic scale. Plus more frequent and longer jumping could wear out some of the civilian drives in the fleet. It's entirely probable that the ships that joined the mission to the Colonies had to go into overhaul shortly after this episode, in fact.
> 
> Anyway, I just thought I'd make that note.


End file.
